Creeping Shadows
by Forever a Cookie
Summary: When Team BSTN arrives at Beacon, they're expecting a typical school year. What they get is anything but. When an oracle and her guardian appear in the forest, hounded by strange Grimm with black eyes, they'll be tested like never before. A shadow is creeping towards them. Are the students of Beacon ready to become true defenders of the world? Eventual White Rose, YangxOC, BlakexOC
1. Prologue

**Hello! Welcome to my first ever RWBY fanfic. **

**Iiiintroduciiiiiing: Team BSTN! (It's pronounced 'bastion', by the way). First chapter is just the prologue (or prologues; rather than make them separate chapters I just put them both here, especially since the first one is so short). It's kind of just to introduce my main OCs a bit (aside from the first part), to give you a bit of their background and stuff.**

**Is there any way in heck that I could ever own RWBY? (Psst, the answer to that question is 'no.')**

* * *

_Twenty years earlier_

_**The boy stumbled through the dark forest, panting heavily, limbs leaden. His clothes were torn and ragged. His stomach growled and his throat was parched beyond belief. He couldn't have been more than fourteen years old.**_

_**As he ran, he cursed the people he had left behind. If they wanted him gone, so be it. But he wouldn't stay gone forever. Someday he'd be back. Someday he'd make them pay.**_

_**Suddenly, a large group of Ursi erupted from the underbrush, snarling and snapping their jaws. Any normal boy would have been terrified, particularly since he was unarmed.**_

_**But the boy was not afraid. He was nothing more than annoyed. These pathetic, soul-less creatures were going to stop him from seeking vengeance? Ha!**_

_**The boy smirked maliciously. They couldn't get in his way, but perhaps they could be useful.**_

_**The boy's eyes turned completely black and almost seemed to glow somehow, darker than midnight. The Ursi froze in place. Slowly, tendrils of black began to creep through the red of their eyes, until at last it overtook the brighter colour completely. Then the fearsome creatures crouched down submissively and lowered their heads to the ground.**_

_**The boy's laughter began as a chuckle. Then it became a chortle. Then a cackle. It grew and grew until he was shrieking manically at the top of his lungs.**_

_**The woods echoed with the sound of insanity as the creatures of Grimm bowed.**_

* * *

_Nine years earlier_

"Stop it!"

The gang of boys cackled and moved in closer, circling Nathaniel, water balloons bouncing up and down in their hands. Nathaniel clenched his hands at his sides and snarled, baring his teeth and standing up straight, trying to look intimidating. But a dripping eight-year-old boy with his hair and clothes plastered to his body was not a very intimidating sight. The lion ears on his head were flat against his scalp, betraying his fear, while his tufted tail stayed ramrod-stiff and bristled in agitation.

"Did you hear that, fellas?" one of the boys sneered. "The faunus rat thinks he can order us around."

One of the others cackled. "He won't be so cocky when I do this!" Before Nathaniel realised what he was planning, the boy had reached forward and yanked sharply on Nathaniel's tail. Tears sprang to the faunus boy's eyes as he yelped in pain, making his tormentors laugh.

"The little rat is crying!"

"Not so tough now are ya, faunus mutt?"

A new voice rang out from behind them. "Leave him alone!"

The group glanced up, some looking over their shoulders. Nathaniel turned to see a blue-haired human boy with glasses standing a few metres away, supported by a pair of crutches.

One of the bullies snorted. "Get outa here, pipsqueak."

"Yeah," chimed one of his buddies. "We ain't got time for some cripple. Scram!"

Satisfied that they had successfully put the boy in his place, they turned back to their faunus victim.

A small stone cracked against the head of one of the bullies.

"You let him go!" the blue-haired boy yelled, another stone in his hand, poised to throw.

Gritting his teeth, the boy who had been hit turned around. "It looks like the cripple wants a beating, boys."

Nathaniel could only watch helplessly as the gang surrounded the newcomer, shoving him to the ground and pelting him with their remaining water balloons. One of the boys snatched his crutches and threw them across the yard while the others tugged him to his feet and shoved him back and forth, landing slaps and punches every so often. As a parting gift, the boy he had hit with the rock dealt him a resounding slap in the face that sent his glasses flying off.

"That'll teach ya, cripple," the boy snorted, before turning and marching away with his cronies in tow.

As soon as they were gone, Nathaniel hesitantly approached the boy, who was groping in the dirt for his glasses. Finding them, he slid them back onto his nose and peered up at the boy standing in front of him. He smiled. "Are you okay?"

Nathaniel blinked. This boy had just taken a beating, and he was asking if Nathaniel was okay?

"Um, yeah, I'm okay," Nathaniel nodded.

The boy smiled again. "That's good." He looked around for his crutches and, spotting them lying several metres away, he sighed.

He pushed himself to his feet and stumbled towards them. Nathaniel just watched, unsure what to do. No human had ever been nice to him before. He was surprised to see that the boy actually made it halfway there. Then his legs gave way beneath him and he fell to the ground. Gritting his teeth, the boy began to pull himself forward on his stomach.

Nathaniel made a decision. Shaking himself out of his reverie, he walked over to retrieve the crutches himself. Then, shyly, he offered them to the boy on the ground.

The boy smiled again and accepted them, propping himself back up onto his feet. "Thank you."

Nathaniel rubbed his head. "Um, why did you help me?"

The boy looked surprised, like he hadn't even thought that needed to be asked. "Because they were bullying you."

Nathaniel frowned. "But I'm…" Silently, he waved his tail to get his point across.

The boy smiled yet again. "You're still a person. My mama told me that faunus are people too, and that we should always treat them like equals. Besides I think your tail's cool."

Nathaniel just blinked in shock. No human had ever complimented him before. "Um, thanks."

The boy tilted his head back and gazed at the clouds. "Know what I want? I want a world where there's no war. I want a world where everyone is safe, and people like you and people like me can all live together and be happy. That's a good world, mama says. So when I grow up, I wanna be a hunter. So I can try and make a good world."

Nathaniel was speechless. Who was this strange boy?

The boy turned to him. "Hey, do you wanna be my friend?"

Nathaniel stared in disbelief. He'd never had a friend before, much less a human one. His family was quite well off, which was unusual for a faunus, but even so most of the humans treated him like dirt. But now this strange blue-haired boy with his big dreams had spoken up for him, had taken a beating for him. And for the first time in forever, he was offering Nathaniel the one thing he'd never had; friendship.

Nathaniel decided then and there that he would be the best friend ever for this boy. Anything he needed, Nathaniel would give. Anything he wanted, Nathaniel would do. He would follow this boy to the ends of the earth.

_Four years earlier_

Taka Kaneshiro was miserable.

He sat, desolate, on the bench outside his father's office gazing at the blueprints in his hands, suit-clad shoulders sagging. As the heir to KaneshiroCorp, his father's weapons and engineering company, he had been tasked with designing a new product to prove that he had what it took to take over after his entrepreneurial father.

He sighed as he recalled his earlier meeting with his father. He had been so excited at the chance to prove himself, to impress his father, but that was all up in smoke now. It was clear that his father had been disappointed by Taka's designs. He was always disappointed with Taka's designs. He was a kind man and made no secret that he loved his son very much, but he was often disheartened by his son's sub-par skill as a mechanical design engineer. All Taka had wanted was for his father to be proud of him, just for once.

Angrily, he balled up the paper in his hands and tossed it viciously over his shoulder. Then he dropped his face into his hands.

A moment later, there came a tap at his shoulder.

"What?!" he snapped, whirling around.

A slightly nonplussed, bespectacled boy with blue hair stood behind him, leaning on a pair of crutches. "Er, sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you. Is this yours?" He held out the paper which Taka had just thrown away.

Taka sighed. "Sort of. It is, but I don't particularly want it anymore."

The boy glanced at the drawing, which was of a new motorbike design, with a critical eye. "It's not that bad. It could use a few tweaks and refinements, and you might want to change the wheel design, but it's not bad."

Taka raised an eyebrow. "May I ask who you are, exactly?"

"Oh, I'm a new intern," the boy smiled.

Taka's eyebrow rose further. "Aren't you a little young to be an intern?"

"I guess," the boy laughed, rubbing his neck sheepishly. "But I applied and they hired me. I'm good with design and mechanics and stuff, so…"

"I see," Taka smiled. It was nice to see someone his own age around a place that was usually filled with people several years older.

"You're Taka Kaneshiro, aren't you?" the boy asked. "Your dad runs the company."

Taka blinked, surprised at being recognised. "How did you know?" Many of the staff knew him, on account of him often spending the afternoon around his father's business, but he hadn't expected a newcomer to recognise him so easily.

The boy shrugged. "Your picture was in the introductory booklet I got given. I guess 'cause you're the heir to the company. Besides, I can't think of any other reason a thirteen-year-old would be wearing a tailored suit around here." The boy glanced at the picture in his hands. "Was this for your dad?"

Taka sighed and nodded. "He asked me to design something, as a kind of test. I think he was disappointed."

The blue-haired boy frowned. "Why did you choose to design this? It's not bad, but it's not very original."

Taka went still. He hadn't even thought about that. "They're my father's biggest seller at the moment. I thought if I could improve the design and make them even better, he would be happy."

"Maybe that's not what he was looking for," the boy said thoughtfully. "Maybe he wanted you to be completely original, to come up with your own ideas." His eyes met Taka's. "What do _you_ want to design? What interests _you_? That's where you should start."

He held out Taka's blueprint. "I think you should hang on to this though. You could still do something with it later on if you wanted."

Taka nodded, accepting the paper. "Thank you."

Just then the boy's watch beeped. "Oh, my break's over." He smiled. "See you around, Taka." Then he turned and hobbled away on his crutches, leaving Taka to wonder if he had just made a new friend.

_Three years earlier_

Silas sat crouched in the shadows, his wooden quarterstaff propped up beside him. He watched with narrowed eyes as a large pack of men closed in on a pair of human women, forcing them down a dark alley. Straight in his direction, he noted with satisfaction.

Tugging hood of his cloak up over his head, he rose and positioned himself on the ledge at the end of the building, staff in hand. As the group got closer, his now concealed wolf ears picked up the sound of loud, lewd comments and lecherous laughter emanating from the men, with quieter whimpers of fear coming from the women. He scowled. Human or faunus, no one deserved to be treated like that. Those arrogant asses were about to be taught a lesson.

The alley beneath him was a dead end, and soon enough the women could not go any further. The men laughed and began to close in. From the way some of them were stumbling, they were clearly more than a little drunk.

"Nowhere to go, sweethearts," one man slurred.

The women cowered against the wall. "Please, just leave us alone!" one cried.

Another man, this one sporting a scraggly goatee, smirked lecherously. "Now why would we want to do that?"

As a group, they began to advance on the women. That was Silas's cue.

Silent as a whisper, he dropped from his ledge. He landed with a sudden whump directly between the men and their targets, his cloak fluttering mystically to the ground around him.

The men and the women behind him jumped, startled. As far as they could tell, he had just dropped from the sky.

One of the men growled. "Who're you?"

From behind him, one of his friends yelled, "Scram!"

Goatee man grinned. "Get lost, kid. This is grown-up stuff."

"I think you should leave these women alone now," Silas said evenly.

A vein popped in Goatee's forehead. "Did you not hear me? I said get lost!"

He took a step forward and swung his arm at Silas. Silas simply twirled his staff in one hand, calmly knocking aside Goatee's blow. That seemed to push the man over the edge and he lunged at Silas, who side-stepped smoothly and brought his staff around to crack sharply against the man's skull. Goatee crumpled without another sound.

The other goons stared, dumbstruck, at the boy that had just taken their friend down with little effort at all. The alcohol that many of them were obviously inebriated from may also have played a part in slowing their brain functions.

The trance was broken when one yelled. "Get him!"

Everything fell into chaos as the men surged forward. Silas swung his staff from side to side, jabbing and delivering sweeping strikes with all the speed and skill he possessed. Due to their drunk state many of them were easy to take down, but it seemed like no matter how many fell, more rose to take their place. And it seemed that a few of them had not been as inebriated as they had appeared.

One man produced a knife out of nowhere and swung it clumsily at Silas's face, narrowly missing the tip of his nose as he dodged back nimbly, darting out of the blade's reach. He used the longer reach of his staff to his advantage and cracked Knife Man on the wrist, causing him to yelp with pain and drop the blade in his hand. A swift jab to the solar plexus with the butt of the staff drove the breath out of him and sent the man crumbling to the ground. Silas immediately jerked the staff back into the stomach of a man behind him before whirling it from side to side and whacking two more in the head. He was forced to leap backwards, executing a flip as he did so, to avoid another man, this one holding a broken beer bottle.

Silas cursed. He had underestimated them. He had been relying on the majority of them being so drunk that they couldn't think straight. He hadn't considered that most of them might still be in possession of their fine motor functions, or that so many would actually be close to sober. Without that advantage there were too many for him to handle alone.

As if some god had read his mind, another person came barrelling into the fray. Silas saw a boy with lion ears and a tail land a punch in a goon's face before his attention was stolen by a sharp 'bang!' The man in front of him fell, his bottle shattering as it hit the ground, a new scorch mark smoking on the back of his shirt. Beyond the fallen man, Silas caught a glimpse of two human boys standing in the mouth of the alley. One, a dark-haired boy in a suit, seemed to be holding a pair of gun-like weapons while the other, a blue-haired, bespectacled boy with crutches had his brow furrowed in concentration.

The men surrounding Silas turned to see what was going on. Taking advantage of his opponents' distraction Silas took down four more, even as the boy with the guns took out three of his own. The lion-faunus boy seemed to be causing havoc in his corner of the fight as well. It could have been Silas's imagination, but his opponents seemed to be moving slower than before, as if the air around them had thickened into water. Against the combined efforts of the three boys, the remaining thugs went down easily and it was over before Silas knew it.

When all of their opponents lay on the ground groaning, Silas looked around at his unexpected assistors. The human boys had abandoned their post at the mouth of the alley and were hurrying over, while the lion-faunus attempted to soothe the women cowering against the wall. When they batted away his outstretched hands in apparent disgust, he retreated with an injured look on his face. Silas knew that look. It was the same look many faunus bore their rejection with. Silas himself had worn that face once, before he'd learned to hide it.

The lion-boy turned to his friends beseechingly. The one in the suit sighed and made his way through the prone bodies of the defeated thugs to coax the women away from the wall. Once they were convinced he was human, the women allowed themselves to be led around the battlefield to the end of the alley,hesitantly re-telling all that had happened and shooting distrustful glances at the lion-faunus boy the entire time. When they reached the alley mouth, the boy in the suit urged them away softly. As they turned to go, Silas heard him say, "He just helped save you. Remember that." Then he turned and sauntered back to his companions.

The blue-haired boy looked at him. "Are you okay?"

Silas nodded mutely. The boy smiled. "That's good then. You're a pretty good fighter."

Silas shrugged. "I've taught myself a thing or two."

The boy in the suit ran his eyes over Silas's tattered attire, taking in the heavily patched cloak, the ragged clothing beneath and the beat-up sneakers. "Homeless?" The question wasn't accusatory, just neutrally inquisitive.

Silas nodded.

"What's your name?" The lion-boy asked.

The hooded boy was silent for a moment. Then he muttered, "Silas."

The boy with the crutches nodded. "Well, Silas, it's nice to meet you." He shared a glance with his friends, then looked back at the boy in the patched cloak. "Say, do you want to come hang out with us?"

Silas's hidden wolf ears twitched in involuntary surprise. What kind of question was that to put to someone that you'd just met? And to a homeless ruffian no less.

The blue-haired boy seemed to read his mind and grinned. "As far as I know, that's how you make friends."

Silas's eyebrows rose. This boy didn't even know him, yet he wanted to be his friend?

When voiced his thoughts out loud, the boy simply shrugged. "I know you risked your life to help those two humans, even though you're a faunus."

Silas's eyes widened in shock. "How…?"

The boy in the suit gestured to Silas's head. "Your hood twitched."

Silas sighed resignedly. Then he reached up and tugged his hood back, revealing his face, hair, and most importantly his lupine ears to the world.

The lion boy grinned. "Nice to have another faunus around."

"So anyway," the blue-haired boy grinned again, "How about it? We were on our way to see a movie when we heard your fight. If we go now we can still get there in time."

Silas raised an eyebrow at the other two. "And you're okay with this?"

The boy in the suit shrugged. "You put yourself at risk to save innocents. That's good enough, at least for now."

The lion-faunus nodded. "Taka's right. Plus, our friend here is intuitive about these things. If he trusts you, so do we. He hasn't been wrong yet."

Silas felt a smile tug at his lips. "Okay then."

_One day earlier_

Bastion gazed at the objects laid out on the table before him, the fruit of his labours, and smiled. They were complete. They were functional. And to him they were the most beautiful things he had ever seen. What lay on the table were no ordinary tools, no ordinary weapons. To their craftsman they were his finest creation. They were his key to a world of possibilities. They were his hope.

He took them in his hands and his eyes burned with renewed fire. With these, he could accomplish what everyone had said he couldn't. He could excel where everyone had said he was doomed to fail. These were the manifestations of his purpose, his determination. These were his resolution.

Behind him, the clock chimed. It was time.

He turned to the photograph on his dressing table. From within the frame, an auburn-haired, blue-eyed woman smiled at him. He pressed his fingers to his lips and brushed them against the picture. "I'll make you proud, Mom."

Tucking his creations under his arms, Bastion turned and walked out the door.

_Present time_

Taka gazed out the airship window at, his meticulously styled black hair gleaming in the early morning sunlight, his chocolate brown eyes fixed on the approaching form of Beacon Academy. His customary tailored suit sat comfortably on his frame, the navy fabric augmented with designs in the shape of flower petals along the cuffs and hem in shades of silver. On his breast pocket was emblazoned the silver image of an upside-down katana sword with a guard in the shape of a pair of wings, over the top of an eight-petaled flower. Emblazoned on his lapels was a similar symbol, though the details were slightly different and they were without the wings. This suit had become something of a signature for the young heir in recent years, and he was quite fond of it, going so far as to have three identical copies made. Everyone at KaneshiroCorp, even the newest interns, knew their CEO's son immediately on sight, partially because of the distinctive suit and partially because Taka had all but become a solid fixture at his father's company in the last four years.

Ever since taking the blue-haired boy's advice and coming up with his own original designs, Taka's life had taken a turn for the better (not that it had been bad before mind you). Once freed of his blind desire to do nothing more than please his father, Taka's ideas had begun to flame up with a vengeance. With him enthusiastically applying himself to his work with all his heart, it hadn't taken long for his skills as an engineer and designer to blossom. His father now trusted Taka's opinion on mechanics more than almost anyone else's. The only other person whose eye for machinery he trusted more than his son's was the boy who had quickly earned a name as one of the most naturally skilled engineers the company had ever seen; the blue-haired boy that had eventually become one of his son's best friends.

"We're almost there," Taka commented, not taking his eyes off the approaching silhouette of the academy they were to call home for the next few years.

Beside Taka, Silas smiled. "It almost doesn't seem real, does it Nate?" He addressed his question to the other faunus boy in the room, who was standing on the far side of Taka.

Nathaniel smiled as well. "No, it doesn't. Seems like only yesterday we were only dreaming about this chance. And now it's here."

Silas smiled. It had been three years since he had first met the trio on that dark alleyway. Since that day they had developed a firm friendship. He'd met Nathaniel's family a few months later and a month or so after that they had officially adopted him. With no family of his own to take care of him, Silas had gladly moved in with the Rome family. They had given him all the space he needed, never asking him to call Nathaniel's parents 'mom and dad' and even building him a small cabin of his own behind the house that he could use when he wished. Nathaniel's brothers and sister treated him like one of their own, teasing him as mercilessly as they did their birth siblings. It had been the best three years of his life.

Now seventeen, like the rest of his friends, Silas had grown in more ways than one. He had long ago left behind patched cloaks and wooden staves and now favoured a long, dark grey trench coat with the symbol of two crossed bolts of lightning stitched into the collar, over a grey shirt, black pants and combat boots. His long hair, so dark grey it was almost black, was pulled into a low ponytail at the nape of his neck. The choppy layers of his haircut made it difficult to pull it all back, so the hair retained a slightly spiky, ruffled appearance that complemented his grey ears just fine. His emerald eyes gleamed and his fang-like canines showed as he grinned in anticipation. His own custom designed weapons, made with his own hands, were slung across his back in the form of a pair of sleek, straight canes no more than a metre long.

Nathaniel had also grown. He was far from the scared little boy from nine years ago. He was now the tallest in the group, his sapphire eyes gleaming under a mane of golden-brown hair that exactly matched the honey coloured fur of his lion ears and tail. His broad shoulders were clad in their now customary sleeveless purple hoodie, the hood pulled up halfway across Nathaniel's head, stopping just behind his ears. The stylised golden image of a roaring lion's head was emblazoned at the bottom of the garment. White stretch jeans clad his legs, and golden sneakers covered his feet. A golden bracer was clasped shut over his left fore-arm, and a golden armband rested on his left bicep. Over one shoulder peeked the head of his custom-designed trident, collapsed so that it looked almost like a spearhead. The trident's shaft had also been shortened to allow Nathaniel to carry it.

Though he had grown a lot since that day nine years ago, Nathaniel had never forgotten the promise he had made to himself. And as the years went by the little boy with the crutches, now Nathaniel's best friend, had only continued to prove himself a worthy benefactor of such a promise, though Nathaniel didn't tell him that said promise had been made for several years. When he finally had, the boy had just laughed and told Nathaniel that it was up to him to do what made him happy.

Nathaniel turned to the chair in the middle of the group where said boy now sat, his new crutches leaning against the arm. "Well Bastion? Ready to start this adventure?"

Bastion laughed, his blue hair falling in bangs around his eyes, or rather his glasses. They now resembled safety glasses more than spectacles and were secured to the boy's head by an elastic strap.

"More than I've ever been, Nate," the boy grinned. His eyes, the same forget-me-not blue as his mother's, gleamed in anticipation of the coming journey. His favourite blue jacket clothed his upper half, his lower half clothed in a pair of white jeans, the blue symbol of a chess piece, a castle, sewn onto the right front pocket. Blue sneakers covered his feet.

The four friends lapsed into silence and watched the looming figure of Beacon Academy grow closer by the minute. When at last they approached the landing pad, Bastion straightened in his seat.

"It's time."

* * *

**TA-DAAAA!**

**So, what'd you think? Did you like it? Do you want to see more? Do you hate it already?**

**Our beloved Team RWBY should be here next chapter.**

**If you want to see more of this, review! And even if you don't wanna see more, review anyway and tell me what sucked (but be constructive about it please). Any feedback is appreciated feedback (unless it's a flame).**


	2. Chapter One: The New Team on the Block

**Hello and welcome back to another chapter of Creeping Shadows (previously named Grimm Shadows).**

**So Team RWBY is in this chapter. Team JNPR also makes a brief appearance. It's still pretty OC centric though. But please, give it a chance. And if you get to the end and decide that you hated it, leave a review and let me know why so that I can improve it.**

**POV shifts throughout this. It's all third-person, but in some sections it's third-person limited (as in, you only know what one character is thinking). The first two sections are third-limited, the third section is kind of not really anybody's (so just regular third-person/ third-person unlimited), fourth section is mostly third-limited and the last section switches back and forth (so basically third-unlimited). You should be able to tell who is thinking what.**

**Ownership? Don't look at me. Do I look like Rooster Teeth or Monty Oum to you?**

* * *

**Chapter One: The New Team on the Block**

"Attention class!" Professor Port's booming voice pulled his students away from their conversations, turning all eyes to him.

Ruby Rose lifted her head from her arms and looked over at her teacher curiously, wondering what he was going to announce. As she did so, she was surprised to see a group of four unfamiliar boys in Beacon uniform standing beside the teacher. She immediately straightened in anticipation. Were they getting new classmates?

"We will be welcoming new students to Beacon academy today," the professor continued, gesturing towards the boys beside him. "This is Team BSTN; Nathaniel Rome, Taka Kaneshiro, Silas Fenrir and team leader Bastion Frode."

As soon as the words 'team leader' registered, the class was filled with murmurs of shock.

"That boy has crutches," Weiss whispered in disbelief. "How can he be a huntsman at all, let alone a team leader?"

Ruby had to admit that she shared her partner's bewilderment. While she was all for the boy pursuing what she assumed was his dream, she honestly couldn't see how he would be much good when fighting the creatures of Grimm. Oh well, she shrugged, maybe he had a really strong semblance that made up for his lack of manoeuvrability.

"I hope you will welcome them all." Port completed, heedless of the whispers that now plagued his students, and gestured for the four boys to take their seats.

As soon as the teacher was done, Weiss exploded back into incredulity. "A boy with _crutches _as team leader! A cripple! What good could he possibly be in a fight?"

From the heiress's other side, Yang shrugged and echoed Ruby's earlier thoughts. "Well, maybe he has other skills."

Weiss scoffed haughtily. "What other skills would make up for being an invalid? He…" She cut herself short as the new team drew near.

The two humans didn't glance their way once as they passed by. The two Faunus boys bringing up the rear, however, turned their heads and looked directly at Weiss. The Faunus with lion ears and a tail, his head partially covered in a purple hood that vanished under his uniform, shot Weiss a dirty look. The other Faunus merely glanced at the Schnee heiress, blank-faced, and then looked away again.

When they had passed, Ruby glanced over at her partner. The heiress crossed her arms and huffed haughtily, her cheeks touched with pink from being caught out. Ruby glanced back at the boys, who were now taking seats across the aisle two rows above them, just in time to see the lion-Faunus boy glare openly at Cardin Winchester and clench his fists. Before he could do or say anything, the boy with crutches laid a calm hand on his friend's shoulder. After a moment the Faunus sighed and allowed himself to sink into his seat, still shooting dirty looks at Cardin and his team. Ruby couldn't hear what the leader of Team CRDL was muttering to his friends but, knowing Cardin, it wouldn't be pleasant.

Professor Port began his lecture and Ruby turned her attention away from the boys and tried to focus on the teacher; a difficult feat to accomplish. Soon Port was off on another of his rambling tales and Ruby's head began to droop.

* * *

Nathaniel was doing his level best not to leap from his seat, march over to the obnoxious boy sitting across the room and punch him in the face. Sensing his best friend's anger, Bastion had not removed his hand from Nathaniel's shoulder once since the lesson had begun. Silas could also sense his adoptive brother's rage, and whenever Nathaniel looked like he might disregard Bastion and leap up anyway, the wolf-Faunus placed his own firm hand on the lion-boy's other shoulder. Were it not for those hands, Nathaniel would have lost it and torn across the room several minutes ago.

Ever since the professor had introduced Team BSTN, and Bastion as its leader, incredulous muttering had run rife through the classroom. Though the other students didn't know it, Nathaniel could hear every word. And no words were more anger-inducing than the ones coming from the mouth of the brown-haired boy across the room.

Most of the students in the class had exhibited the expected amounts of incredulity; Nathaniel had to admit that it _was_ both unexpected and unlikely for a boy with crutches to become a huntsman. However this boy, whose friends were calling him 'Cardin', seemed hell-bent on making derogatory comments on everything related to Nathaniel's partner; everything from his crutches to his glasses to his hair had been made spiteful fun of. And as if that weren't enough, he had made several mocking comments on Silas and Nathaniel himself. The insults to his own person Nathaniel could shrug off. The insults to his friend and adopted brother however, he could not. The disparaging statements concerning Faunus-kind in general only made it worse. Nathaniel had officially decided that he hated this boy.

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as he heard his adopted brother referred to as a 'filthy mongrel'. Bastion's hand on his shoulder was the only thing keeping him down when he heard the hated boy call his partner an 'invalid.'

He cursed under his breath. They all hated that word; invalid. Cripple they didn't like, but could ignore if they had to. Invalid, however, was never taken well with any of them. The word invalid implied that Bastion was inferior, that he was not as good, not as 'valid' as the next person. And all three of Bastion's team-mates knew for a fact that he was a much better person than most of those he encountered. He was certainly far superior to the boy called Cardin.

Ever since the mutterings began, only one other person had uttered the word 'invalid.' Nathaniel's eyes shifted away from Cardin and instead sought out the pale, princess-like girl with the silver-white hair sitting in the front row.

Like most of the class, she was whispering furiously to her team-mates. "Even _if _he does have an incredible aura or some such ability, he would still probably have to rely on his team for protection and he would still slow them down. It's just a fact; if you can't defend yourself in battle, you're nothing more than a liability."

Nathaniel scowled. Little did they know that Bastion was perfectly capable of taking care of himself in a fight. His intelligence made up for his weak legs a hundredfold. His semblance was nothing to scoff at either.

A small girl with a red cloak and hood, who was seated beside the pale princess, frowned. "Weiss, you don't know for sure that he can't defend himself."

"Of course I do," the princess girl scoffed. "Everyone in class knows it. Even if he can fight with those crutches, he'd still be too slow and clumsy to be of any real use in a battle."

Nathaniel's expression morphed into a smirk as he pictured the pale girl's face when she realised how wrong she was.

The girl crossed her arms arrogantly. "To be a successful huntsman or huntress you have to be the best. There is simply no place for an invalid in a job like this."

And there it was again. Invalid. Nathaniel's eyes narrowed and he glowered at the girl so intensely that he was half-hoping her uniform would catch fire.

If the girl could feel his glare boring into her, she gave no indication of it. One of her friends did, however. The dark-haired girl sitting two seats away frowned. Nathaniel's attention was briefly distracted by the sight of the bow on her head twitching. He smirked internally as he returned his focus to the prim princess. Another Faunus, huh? That made six in the room, including a girl with bunny ears that he had seen earlier as well as a couple of others.

The Faunus girl glanced around, her gaze finally settling on him. She leaned over to her friend. "Call me crazy, Weiss, but I think one of the new guys can hear you."

The alabaster-haired girl whipped around in her seat, her eyes meeting his. For a second she blanched under the force of his glare. Then she collected herself and straightened in her seat, glaring back haughtily.

The golden-haired girl seated between her and the Faunus with the bow looked up. "How can he hear you whispering from way over there? Especially with this much noise in the class. Even Blake's ears aren't that sharp."

The girl with the bow narrowed her eyes at her friend in warning, which the blonde promptly ignored.

"He probably can't," the princess girl, Weiss, scoffed. "He glared at me when he went past. He probably just hasn't stopped."

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow and then rolled his eyes pointedly. The girl in the red cloak chuckled. "I think he can hear you alright."

"Well, he shouldn't be listening in on other peoples' private conversations," the pale girl huffed, shooting Nathaniel a pointed scowl. He scowled right back. She had been dissing his partner!

"You were just talking smack about his team leader," the blonde girl pointed out, echoing Nathaniel's sentiments.

Princess floundered for a moment, searching for a good retort. When she found none, she huffed again and turned back to the front of the class.

Satisfied that his point had been made, Nathaniel also turned his attention back to the professor, who had noticed nothing of what had just transpired. Within seconds, he felt his eyelids start to droop.

* * *

When the lecture finally drew to a close, Team RWBY was one of the first to leave the classroom. By unspoken consensus, Team BSTN remained in their seats until the last of their classmates had dispersed.

When the last boy vanished out the door, Nathaniel exploded to his feet. "I'm gonna shoot that Cardin guy! I swear, I'm gonna bust out Neptune's Law and just –" He took a shot with a finger gun and mimed a loud explosion.

"Neptune's Law doesn't blow things up," Bastion laughed, pulling himself to his feet and tucking his crutches under his arms. "And you're going to have to tell me who 'that Cardin guy' is, since we don't all have ears sharper than a bat's."

"I'm assuming he was the cocky-looking one you kept sending glares at," Taka commented, slipping his notes into his book bag.

Nathaniel nodded.

"What were you doing using your semblance in class anyway?" Silas asked as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "It would have been a lot easier for you without it."

"I didn't at first," Nathaniel shrugged. "But I couldn't bear knowing they were all talking about Bastion, and even you, and not hearing it all for myself. I had to hear it to know exactly what I was going to beat them up for."

Silas flicked his ears, slightly amused. "You mean to tell me you plan to beat up every single person in this class?"

Nathaniel scratched his head as they stepped out into the aisle one by one. "Probably not I guess. Maybe just that Cardin guy and his team. Though that Weiss girl in the front row is pissing me off pretty good too."

At that Silas's eyes narrowed. "The princess girl?"

Nathaniel nodded. "That's the one."

Silas's eyebrows angled into a sharp 'v' as they moved towards the doors. He too had heard the first 'invalid' comment. Suffice to say he was not amused.

Taka laughed as they stepped out into the corridor. "I hope we won't be hearing of you two attempting to lay hands on a lady. Especially not that particular lady. I doubt Weiss Schnee is a person you want to mess with."

Silas's eyebrows shot up. "Schnee? As in the Schnee Dust Company?"

"You know her?" Nathaniel asked, surprised.

Taka shook his head. "No, but I know _of_ her. My father is a big client of Schnee Dust. It would be… unpleasant if the daughter of the company's CEO were to file a lawsuit against our team. Not to mention that assault and battery can result in criminal charges."

Nathaniel sighed. "Okay, okay, I get it. No hitting girls, no hurting the prissy heiress."

Taka nodded. "Exactly."

As they approached the dining hall, Bastion turned to his partner. "Nate, please promise me you won't go beating anyone up today. Or tomorrow, for that matter."

Nathaniel sighed regretfully. "Fine. But what if I go up against one of them in combat class?"

Bastion chuckled. "Fine. It's not like I could do much about that anyway. But nothing out of class, okay? We haven't even been here a day yet, and we're getting enough attention as it is," he added with an uncomfortable shift of his shoulders.

Nathaniel softened at his partner's discomfort. "I promise."

* * *

"Hey, look! That boy has crutches!"

Nora's excited chirp made Weiss glance up. Looking in the direction the other girl was pointing, she saw the new team, Team BSTN, step into the cafeteria and merge onto the end of the lunch line with the rest of the late-comers.

"They're new," Yang explained. "They were in our Grimm Studies class last period. The boy with crutches is their leader."

Pyrrha raised her eyebrows. "A huntsman with crutches is the team leader?"

"There, you see?" Weiss huffed. "I'm not the only one who finds that unbelievable."

The scarlet-haired girl shook her head. "I am surprised, but I wouldn't say it was unbelievable. Everyone has different strengths that they can bring to the battlefield."

Weiss snorted. No matter what her friends said, she still found the notion of a cripple as team leader utterly preposterous. Surely one of his team-mates was better suited to the role. Then again, that was what she had originally thought of Jaune and Ruby, and she had eventually had to concede that Ruby did, in fact, have the potential to become a great leader and had probably been the best choice to lead Team RWBY. Jaune she was still unsure of, though he seemed to be doing better recently.

But that wasn't the point, she berated herself. There was a difference between a goofball like Jaune; who could, with a _lot_ of work, improve, and a boy like that; who would _always_ be crippled and physically inferior. It was a miracle that someone like him could have ever become a huntsman in the first place.

Weiss broke from her thoughts as Team BSTN approached. As if detecting her presence, the lion-Faunus boy met her eyes and glared, his eyes flicking pointedly between his team leader and her. The wolf-Faunus, who Weiss noticed was carrying his leader's tray as well as his own, glanced over as well. His blank face betrayed no emotion whatsoever as he met her eyes coolly. The black-haired boy looked her way as well. Though his face displayed only calm curiosity, his dark, calculating eyes made her shiver, feeling as if she had suddenly been placed under a microscope to be analysed and evaluated. The blue-haired leader was the only one who seemed indifferent to her presence.

All three boys' eyes were forced to the front when Cardin Winchester stepped into their path, the rest of Team CRDL right behind him.

"Well, well," Cardin sneered. "Look at the trash the cat dragged in."

The blue-haired boy laughed. "Believe it or not, I've actually heard that one before."

The brown-haired bully scowled and leaned in towards the shorter boy. "You think you're funny, huh?"

"Not particularly," the smaller boy shrugged.

Cardin growled and made as if to grab one of the boy's crutches when the black-haired boy stepped forward. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could make a sound he seemed to trip and stumble forward, his heel somehow smashing down onto Cardin's toes. As he did so, his lunch tray slipped from his hands. The apple slid over the edge and went tumbling to the ground, while the sandwich and glass of water tipped forward and, pinned from behind by the tray, splattered all over the front of Cardin's uniform.

The boy jerked back in apparent mortification. "Ah! I'm sorry about that."

Cardin cursed as he hopped on one foot, clutching his injured toes. "I'll get you for this." Then he turned and limped away, the rest of his team in tow.

Everything was silent for a moment. Then, as soon as Team CRDL had left the lunchroom, the rest of Team BSTN burst into laughter.

The lion-eared boy grinned at his team-mate, chuckles shaking his body. "Taka, you are my new hero."

The black-haired boy grinned back and, with one smooth motion of his shoe, flicked the apple back up into his hand, brushing it off against his sleeve. "Thanks, Nate, but somehow I feel like Bastion still holds that title." He frowned at the remnants of his sandwich and then shrugged. "Apple for lunch it is."

* * *

It had been a long day.

Bastion sighed to himself as he ambled down the paved stone pathway through the school grounds. He'd gone to his locker after class had ended for the day, telling his friends to go back to the dorm without him (after extracting a promise from Silas to keep Nathaniel from hitting anybody). Now, rather than go through the corridors, he had opted instead to take the scenic route. It was quiet down here, away from the crowds of students who would stare and judge him, disbelieving and derisive. It was always like this whenever he announced his dream to be a huntsman to anyone, except this time, instead of one or two people, there were hundreds of students in there ready to judge him at a glance. Tomorrow he'd brave the crowds, but today he just wanted a quick breather before diving back in fully.

A breeze ruffled his hair and he stopped to smile at the sky. It was too beautiful a day to stay cooped up inside. He watched the clouds drift lazily across the blue and a feeling of calm settled over him. He'd have to go back inside sooner or later; the others were waiting for him. But for just a moment everything faded away and the world was at peace.

His tranquillity was shattered when a red blur sped around the corner behind him and emitted a jarring shriek. "Look out!"

The blur, which was, of course, Ruby Rose, cursed frantically as she dug her heels into the ground and tried to stop, to no avail. She had too much momentum; she'd never be able to stop in time.

Startled by the suddenly imminent danger, Bastion's fingers automatically sought out the buttons on the handles of his crutches, particularly the triggers under his index fingers. With no time to think, he acted purely on instinct. Just before the blur smashed into him, he slid his fingers onto the triggers and pulled.

There was a loud bang as the rounds inside the chambers fired and detonated against the ground. The recoil, combined with the force of the blast, sent him shooting into the air just in the nick of time.

Ruby's eyes widened as a cloud of flame and smoke blossomed at the bottom of the new boy's crutches and sent him rocketing skyward. She just had time to think, _cool, _before her motion sent her right into the middle of it. She burst through, gagging and blinded by the acrid smoke, and her foot caught on the edge of the pavement, her momentum sending her flying. She hit green and skidded the next few grassy metres flat on her face before finally coming to a stop.

Bastion's landing was infinitely more graceful. Nearly three years of constant training made the now-familiar motions completely effortless. He barely even needed to think as he shifted in mid-air, lining his crutches up perfectly with the approaching ground. There was a soft clack as he landed, perfectly balanced, his crutches taking the brunt of the impact and his feet never brushing the ground once.

Instantly he swung around and ran towards the girl lying sprawled on the ground (or rather, the variation of running that one does with crutches). As he drew near, she sat up, spitting grass and rubbing smoky grit from her eyes. He winced. It wasn't really his fault, but he couldn't help but feel just the tiniest bit guilty.

Ruby looked up as a voice sounded above her.

"Are you okay?"

She looked up to see the new boy with the crutches, who she had nearly barrelled into, standing over her with a concerned look on his face.

Flushing in embarrassment, she stumbled to her feet and frantically dusted herself off. "Fine! I'm fine! I'm okay."

He watched anxiously. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yeah, of course. I've had worse."

He let a relieved smile slide onto his face. "Thank goodness." He paused and tilted his head at her. "Weren't you in a rush to get somewhere?"

The girl shrugged. "Well…not really. I was just going back to my dorm room. I'm not exactly in a rush, but I said I'd be back quickly, so…"

He laughed. "Understandable. I'm headed back to the dorms too. First time for me, actually."

Ruby perked up. "I can show you the way if you want."

"Thanks," he smiled. "You don't need to though. I think I can find it okay."

"Then I'll keep you company," she chirped, leading him back onto the pathway. "My name is Ruby, by the way. Ruby Rose, leader of Team RWBY."

"Bastion. Bastion Frode, leader of Team BSTN."

She glanced first at him then down at his crutches, taking note of the buttons beneath his fingers. "Soooo…are those your weapons?"

He nodded and traced the blue metal fondly. "Yup. They're designed to function as high-impact rifles mostly, though they have a rapid-fire setting as well. They also have blades." To demonstrate, he stopped walking and lifted one off the ground, sliding some kind of switch on the top of the handle open with his thumb. The he clicked one of the buttons and a large blade unfolded from the back of the rod into a triangular, almost fin-like shape with a smaller section spiking forward, extending beyond the end of the crutch.

Ruby gasped and oohed in appreciation. It was quite impressive, to her at least. Smiling in amusement at her enthusiasm, Bastion clicked the button and slid the switch shut again. The blade folded up and retracted, leaving the rod as plain and unassuming as before.

"Sorry about that explosion before, by the way," Bastion said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "I forgot I had smoke rounds in the barrel."

"It's okay," Ruby smiled as they. "It's my fault for almost bumping into you."

"We'll call it even, then," he grinned.

"Yup," she nodded. Then, after a pause, she said, "My weapon is a scythe. Crescent Rose. She's also a customisable, high-impact sniper rifle. I don't have her here now though."

Bastion looked at her in surprise. "A scythe? Scythe wielders are rare. You must be pretty good." He paused and scrutinised her. "You know, now that I think about it, you do look a little young to be attending Beacon."

Ruby shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. "Well…I was moved up a couple of years."

Bastion's eyes widened in amazement. "Wow. And you're team leader too. Forget good, you must be incredible."

Ruby laughed sheepishly. "I don't know if I'd say 'incredible'."

The boy shook his head adamantly. "Doesn't matter what you say. You're here. That speaks for itself. It's not every day you see a fifteen-year-old at a school like Beacon. You are fifteen, right?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, well, it's not every day you see a guy with crutches at a school like Beacon either." Then she gasped softly and her eyes widened. Should she have said that? What if he was offended?

To her relief, he didn't seem to take offence and laughed instead. "True, true."

Before either of them could think of anything to say, the dorm building came into view.

"Well, there it is," Ruby smiled. "Where are you headed?"

In answer he pulled out his and showed her the directions he had been given. As she followed them in her head, her eyebrows rose. "This is basically right across the hall from my room."

He quirked a brow. "Say what?"

She nodded. "Yeah, you guys are right next to Team JNPR. They're the team right across the hall from us, so you guys are across the hall and a door down."

She handed him back the scroll and he pocketed it with a surprised, "Huh." Then he frowned. "Wait a sec. That Schnee girl is in your team, yeah? What's her name? Weiss?"

Ruby nodded, unsure where he was going with this. "Um, yes?"

He sighed. "I hope Nathaniel hasn't seen her then. I don't know what she said, but one of my team-mates really seems to hate her at the moment."

Comprehension dawned on Ruby's face. "Oh, you mean that lion-Faunus boy, right? Yeah, he's been glaring at her all day. I guess I can sort of see why. She kind of…" She scratched her neck awkwardly. "Weiss kind of said some things…"

"Don't tell me," Bastion interjected. "I don't need to know."

"Okay then…" She looked at him curiously.

"I don't need to know what she said. The only thing that'll do is give me pre-conceptions, and I don't need those. I'd rather just form my own opinion when I meet her myself, if I can," he explained.

Understanding, Ruby nodded. "Okay then. I guess I'll show you to the rooms."

"Thanks," he chuckled.

"So what are your team-mates like?" Ruby asked as she led him through the halls.

Bastion tilted his head musingly. "Where to begin. Nathaniel's been my best friend for years. He's almost like an over-protective brother. He's quite…impetuous. He's a hot-head, and he jumps head-on into things a lot. I guess that's why I'm his partner; someone needs to balance him out." He shook his head fondly.

"Then there's Taka. I don't know if you've ever heard of KaneshiroCorp, the big weapons and engineering corporation? His dad is the CEO. He's a nice guy, though he can be a little manipulative when he wants to be. Then there's Silas. He's usually the quietest one, but he's not shy. He's just not the type to waste words. He can be a little rash every now and again, but on the whole he's got a pretty level head."

Ruby smiled. "They sound like a good team."

"They are."

"So what are their weapons like?" Ruby tried, and failed, to hide the sudden gleam that sprang to her eyes as she asked this.

Bastion laughed. "I get the feeling you love weapons." He frowned in thought. "We have a field lesson in a couple of days, right?"

"Um, yeah."

Bastion nodded his head decisively. "Then you'll probably find out then. I'm guessing we're here?"

They had stopped outside the door to Team RWBY's room. Ruby nodded. "Yup. This is where my team and I stay. Your room is right there." She pointed to the room in question.

Bastion nodded. "Thanks."

"No problem," she grinned.

She lifted her scroll to the lock and then paused. She glanced over her shoulder. "Hey, Bastion?"

The boy paused in the act of swiping his own scroll across the lock and looked back at her. "Yes?"

"I forgot to ask before, what are your weapons called?"

Bastion was silent for a moment. Then he said, "They're called Resolution."

Ruby grinned. "Cool name. Anyhoo, see ya around."

He grinned back. "See you around."

Then he swiped his scroll across the lock and entered his new room, letting the door swing shut behind him.

* * *

**So, how'd it go? Did you like it? Hate it? Somewhere in-between?**

**If you liked it, tell me what you liked. If you didn't, give me suggestions on what I could improve (seriously, I can't fix anything if I don't know what doesn't work). Constructive criticism is welcomed with open arms. No flames. Other than that, feel free to criticise to your heart's content. The more critical you are, the better it is for me as a writer (as long as it's fair criticism. It has to make sense).**

**So REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter Two: Strangers in the Forest

**Heya people.**

**First off, I would like to say thank you to jakillking999 and TheDelta724 for reviewing this fic. Also, thank you to TheDelta724 for following and favouriting. You guys both rock.**

**So here is the new chapter. It's a pretty long one; about 2000 or so words longer than the last two. I'm apologising in advance for any grammar or spelling errors; it's, like, five in the morning where I am and I'm not going to proof-read now.**

**I've been a little inconsistent in this chapter with what I call Nathaniel outside of dialogue. I just used 'Nathaniel' for the first two chapters and I was going to stick to that, but then I started using 'Nate' unconsciously, and then switching to 'Nathaniel' without realising it, and then going back to 'Nate' again. In the end I figured, just roll with it.**

**I am nowhere near awesome enough to own RWBY.**

* * *

**Chapter Two: Strangers in the Forest**

"Okay, I admit it," Yang sighed. "We're lost."

Blake just shook her head. She knew they never should have trusted her partner with directions.

Weiss groaned, throwing up her hands. "Well that's just perfect! Now what are we going to do?! We'll never reach the ruins in time!"

It had been two days since Team BSTN's arrival at Beacon, and today the entire first year faced a practical test in the Emerald Forest. The teams had all been had all been dropped off in separate locations, dropped out of an airship rather than flung off a cliff this time, and told to make their way to yet another ancient ruin situated deep in the forest before five o'clock. So far it was nearly noon and Team RWBY had been wandering through the trees for hours without a clear idea where to go, and the lack of progress was beginning to grind on their nerves.

Yang rolled her eyes at Weiss. "Do you want to try and direct us, princess?"

"I could probably do a better job than you," Weiss shot back.

"Guys, guys," Ruby said nervously, holding up her hands in a placating gesture. "We're not getting anywhere fighting like this."

"We're not getting anywhere anyway!" Weiss snapped.

Suddenly, Blake's ears twitched and she drew Gambol Shroud. When she spoke her voice was soft with warning. "Guys."

Recognising her tone, the others ceased bickering immediately and deployed their weapons.

"What are they?" Ruby asked quietly.

The loud howl of a Beowolf sounded from the undergrowth, answering the red-cloaked girl's question. The four girls instinctively adopted battle-ready stances and moved until they were back-to back, with Ruby facing the direction that the sound had come from while the others scanned the rest of their surroundings. One almost never found just one Beowolf.

Sure enough, a series of deep growls emanated from the bushes all around them and a second later the spaces between the surrounding trees were filled with the dark forms of a pack of Beowolves. One larger than the rest, obviously the pack alpha, stepped out of the shadows directly in front of Ruby.

"I'll take the big guy," Ruby muttered. The other girls nodded their agreement, never taking their eyes off their as-yet motionless opponents.

Yang broke the stalemate. A yell tore from her throat as she charged towards the nearest Grimm, Ember Celica firing round after round into the monsters.

The others didn't hesitate to engage their own opponents. As the horde of Grimm came roaring towards her, Weiss wasted no time in launching herself forward with a glyph, Myrtenaster becoming nothing more than a deadly blur in her hands. Nearby, Blake whipped Gambol Shroud from one side to the other in gun form, in which state it doubled as a kusarigama-style weapon.

Ruby went straight for the alpha. In an instant she was across the no-man's-land and Crescent Rose was hooked around the large Grimm's neck. A sharp yank on the trigger sent a bullet slamming into another Grimm, while the recoil, combined with Ruby's own strength, jerked the blade backwards, neatly beheading the alpha. She vanished in a flurry of rose petals, re-appearing at the rear of the group, swinging Crescent Rose in a deadly arc.

In but a few minutes, all that remained of the Beowolves were carcasses dissolving into the air.

"Well that was fun," Yang remarked cheerily, dusting off her hands.

Ruby grinned at her sister. "Come on, let's keep moving."

"But which way?" Blake asked.

Suddenly, a sharp scream rent the air. All four heads snapped in the direction of the sound.

"Somebody's in trouble!" Yang exclaimed.

Weiss snorted. "It's probably just Jaune again. His team should be with him. He'll be fine."

Ruby considered her partner's words, but a nagging feeling took hold at the back of her skull. "Let's go check it out anyway."

"But what about the ruins?" Weiss exclaimed. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to fail this test because of some needless distraction."

"Someone could be in real trouble," Ruby reprimanded.

"Besides," interjected Blake, "For all we know that could be the right way to go."

After a long moment Weiss relented, throwing her arms up in exasperation. "Fine! But if it turns out I'm right and we fail because of this…" She left the threat hanging.

"We won't," Ruby assured with a smile. "Now let's go!"

With Ruby at the front of the group, the four girls sped through the forest in the direction of the sound. A few minutes later the sound of running feet, as well as the odd clacking sound of crutches, approached from the left. Seconds later, Team BSTN burst through the undergrowth.

Catching sight of each other, both teams screeched to a stop.

After a moment of silence, Taka spoke up. "I'm going to go ahead and assume that it wasn't one of you that screamed."

Weiss huffed, offended. "Of _course_ it wasn't one of us."

Nate snorted. "Easy, princess. No need to get huffy."

"It's heiress, actually," the white-haired girl corrected loftily, crossing her arms. "My name is Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."

"So I've heard," Nate shrugged. "But you seem more like some privileged, stuck-up princess to me."

Weiss's eyes widened in indignation. "Why you - !"

"Guys, break it up," Bastion commanded, his head turned in the direction that the scream had come from. "Someone's still in trouble." The blue-haired boy glanced at Nate. "Can you…?"

The lion-Faunus nodded. Then, with little more than a thought, he activated his semblance. Instantly his senses sharpened to razor clarity, his eyes picking out every single vein in the leaves on the trees, his nose sorting through every miniscule scent in a twenty-metre radius. His ears became hyper-sensitive sound detectors, picking up every variation of noise for several metres. Closing his eyes, he pushed his hearing out further until, finally, he picked up the faint sounds of a battle.

His eyes snapped open and he nodded at Bastion. "Someone's fighting, and not too quietly either. I can hear it from here, but it sounds like it's a while away yet."

The blue-haired boy nodded. "Anything else?" Bastion knew the look on his partner's face. That look meant that there was more imminent danger.

Nathaniel nodded. "A group of Ursa Major, directly in our path and approaching as we speak. There are Beowolves to the north and south, so we'll probably hit them if we try to go around."

Bastion exchanged a glance with Taka, who nodded in reply. The team leader nodded to himself to re-affirm his plan, and then spoke. "We're going to have to keep going and take care of the Ursi when we come to them. It's the quickest way." He turned to Ruby. "Unless you have another idea?"

The red-cloaked girl frowned for a moment, and then shook her head. She couldn't see a better alternative. "No, your way sounds like the best plan right now."

"Wait a minute!" Weiss interjected, planting her hands on her hips. "Are we seriously joining up with them? They'll just slow us down! We'd be better off going ahead alone."

"Weiss…" Ruby growled warningly. There was a limit to how much of the white-haired girl's prejudice she could take, particularly since, after their meeting two days ago, she now considered Bastion a friend. She had seen for herself how adept and agile he could be, despite his condition, and she had a sneaking suspicion that he could handle himself in battle just as well.

From his position beside Bastion, Taka spoke up. "I think you may be underestimating us, Miss Schnee. You might want to take the time to learn a little about a person before judging them."

As Weiss floundered indignantly for a comeback, Silas spoke. "I think you'll find that we're perfectly capable of keeping up. _All_ of us." His statement was completed with a cold glare that actually made Weiss shiver.

Taka bit back a wry smile as he glanced at his wolf-eared partner. Nathaniel may have been more open about it, but Silas also harboured ill sentiments for the Schnee heiress after overhearing some of her comments on Bastion, particularly the ones involving the word 'invalid'. Taka had to admit that he himself was none too pleased after hearing of that. Nate was, however, often able to forgive easily enough if given reason to, though he was less amicable when his team-mates or family were involved. Silas on the other hand, despite typically being the more level-headed, was entirely too capable of holding grudges. If Bastion insisted for long enough, Nate would drop his grudge against the heiress, though they probably still wouldn't get along. He'd already relaxed considerably in comparison to two days ago. Silas's ire, however, had not melted in the slightest. Weiss Schnee would have to outright apologise, and mean it, before Silas would even begin to forgive her.

"If you're done…" Bastion said wryly, quirking an eyebrow. Silas broke off his glaring and turned to face his leader, subtly shifting in preparation to run. That was all the confirmation Bastion needed. He turned back to Team RWBY. "Let's go."

Without further comment, the eight hunters-in-training took off into the woods.

As they ran, Weiss was forced to admit that she had indeed underestimated Bastion. Not only was the boy not slowing them down, he was right in the middle of the group; the longer 'strides' that his crutches enabled allowing him to keep pace with his friends. She noticed with some curiosity that he appeared to be using both legs as well as his crutches to aid in his 'running'.

Before she could muse on this further, a group of seven Ursa Major burst through the undergrowth ahead.

"We can handle this," Nathaniel shouted, unslinging his trident from over his shoulder. As the weapon's head expanded and the metal shaft lengthened in his hand, the golden bracer and armband on his left arm expanded as well, joining together to cover his entire arm from shoulder to finger-tip in scale-like golden armour, with thicker, plate-like sections encasing his forearm and shoulder. Removing what appeared to be an ammunition clip from his belt and inserting it into a slot on the underside of his forearm, he raised his arm and took aim. A section of the armour on his forearm rose to reveal a small gun barrel as he fired a bullet after bullet at the oncoming Grimm.

"What about us?" Yang called.

"Help if you want," Bastion replied. "But I think we got it."

So saying, the blue-haired leader of Team BSTN slid back the safety switches on the handles of his crutches and raised the right one into the air. He shifted the setting on the dial switch underneath his right ring finger and clicked the button under his pinkie. A thin metal rod descended from the back of the shaft, branching out to become a tripod-style stand. Then he slammed his thumb down on the button on the end of the handle and pulled the trigger, unleashing a rapid-fire barrage on the monsters.

Taka unhitched what resembled a pair of blade-less katana handles, one slightly shorter than the other, from their resting place at his belt. He slid the openings at the pommel into slots on large rectangular Automatic Ammunition Loading Cases (Or AAL cases) that rested on either hip, withdrawing them again with a canister of red Dust slotted in place on one and a canister of yellow Dust on the other.

Sprinting forward, the black-haired boy dropped to the ground and slid flat on his back underneath the belly of one of the Ursi. As he did so, he clicked the trigger button under his left index finger, releasing a cloud of red Dust behind him. As he shot out the other end, he cut off the Dust and instead pressed his thumb against the small button at the top of the handle. At the edge of the handle, a large spark jumped into existence. As a weapon in and of itself, it would have been completely ineffective. Fortunately, one large spark was all that was necessary to ignite the cloud of dust behind Taka, sending a gigantic fireball exploding into being and torching the Ursa.

By the time Taka's Ursa went up in flames, Silas was already moving. He unhooked the two metre-long rods, one grey and one black, from his back, spinning them in his hands as they shortened and thickened until he was holding a pair of semi-automatic handguns. He slammed the butts of the gun handles into the AAL cases at his sides, withdrawing them when the ammunition clicked into place. There was a series of sharp bangs as he fired shot after shot into the nearest beasts. One collapsed nearly immediately, weakened by Bastion's cover fire, and another went down soon after. The others were considerably more resilient.

Upon hearing the click of an empty barrel and deciding that he was close enough, Silas jettisoned the empty ammunition clips as the guns extended and narrowed in his hands to form six-and-a-half-foot-long staves. He spun them in his hands, whipping them from side to side. As he did so his semblance crackled to life, sending sharp strings of electricity running down the shafts. He dodged between two Ursi and struck out to either side with his staves. The beasts shrieked as hundreds of volts of electricity coursed through them, the force of the strikes knocking them back.

In an instant, Silas's teammates were on them. Taka swung the weapon in his right hand, releasing a cloud of yellow Dust over one of the Ursi. With a soft click another spark flared to life, this time turning the Dust into a cloud of deadly lightning. The Ursa fell to ground, now a smoking, life-less husk.

Nathaniel, meanwhile, had taken care of the other one. Quickly scaling a nearby tree, he took aim at the beast. Responding to his aura, a small section of his gauntlet extended and a small projectile shot out, quickly expanding into a large, weighted steel net. The net slammed into the Ursa, snaring it and pinning it against the ground. With a sharp whoop Nate leapt into the air, aiming his trident down at the Ursa. With a sharp click the middle blade shot forward like an arrow, trailing a black cord behind it. It sank into the flesh of the Ursa's neck with a thunk. Immediately, the cord went taut, pulling Nathaniel down towards the trapped beast at an incredible speed. He yelled in triumph as the rest of his trident head slammed into the Ursa, his momentum driving the weapon down and causing it to pierce right through the monster's thick neck.

One of the remaining Ursa had fallen already to Bastion's gunfire. The last beast, however, was more intelligent than its fallen comrades. Retreating into the undergrowth, it circled silently until it was behind the shooter that had caused it some painful wounds. Then, when it was sure that he was vulnerable, it leapt from hiding with a roar, bearing down on the blue-haired boy in a dark wall of claws and teeth.

Startled, Bastion swung around to see the huge beast burst from the undergrowth. Acting quickly, he slammed his finger onto a button, causing the stand under his crutch to retract. As the metal tripod folded away, Bastion brought the weapon back to face the ground and, with a sharp tug on the triggers, repeated the manoeuvre that he had used two days ago. A cloud of flame unfurled against the ground as Bastion was rocketed into the air, evading the charging Ursa by a hair.

Bastion clicked another button, deploying the Resolution's blades. Twisting in mid-air, he slammed both blades into a nearby tree and braced his feet against the trunk, hanging almost upside-down. Another pull on the triggers fired him off the tree trunk and sent him hurtling towards the Ursa, which was now rearing on its hind legs. He flipped in the air, bringing the ends of his crutches forward to slam into the bear-Grimm's face. He pulled the triggers one more time. Resolution fired, propelling him backwards into space and knocking the now-dead Ursa to the ground. Flipping to right himself as he fell, Bastion braced himself for landing. There was a sharp clack as the ends of Resolution hit the ground, followed by the barest whisper as his feet were lowered to the dirt.

Then it was over.

To say that Team RWBY were surprised by Bastion's prowess would be an understatement. Weiss and Yang stared in open-mouthed amazement and Blake's eyes were wide in shock, her eyebrows raised so high that they vanished into her bangs. Only Ruby seemed relatively unsurprised, having seen his surprising agility for herself already.

Catching sight of Weiss's astounded face, Nathaniel chuckled. Taka couldn't resist a smirk, while Silas's lips twisted in a way that could only be described as smug. Invalid, was he?

Sliding his safeties shut, Bastion turned to his companions. "We should keep going."

Shaking their heads to clear the fog of amazement, the girls nodded. "Right."

As they turned and broke back into run, Bastion allowed himself a small smile. Though he liked and respected what he had seen of Ruby's team (though his opinions on Weiss were a little iffy), he had to admit that he had enjoyed the astounded looks on their faces. It did feel good to prove the naysayers wrong. It felt good to prove that he was just as good as any other huntsman or huntress.

As they sped through the trees, Nate pulled up alongside Weiss and cleared his throat pointedly. When she glanced his way he flicked his eyes towards his partner and smirked at the heiress, who huffed and looked away, speeding up to pull away from him. He chuckled smugly.

Weiss scowled as she thought about what she had just witnessed. Okay, so maybe she had judged Bastion a _little_ too harshly. Oh who was she kidding? Though she was loath to admit it, Weiss had been wrong about Bastion. After seeing him in action, she was forced to admit that he was, in fact, a very capable huntsman in his own right. She sighed as she contemplated having to apologise to him and his team. It wasn't a pleasant prospect for the proud heiress.

Hearing the older girl's sigh, Ruby glanced back and smiled encouragingly at Weiss, sensing that her partner had finally conceded to being wrong. Weiss was a little surprised by how easily the red-hooded girl could read her, though after being partners for a few months now she supposed she shouldn't be. The idea that someone knew her well enough to read her through a sigh was both gladdening and terrifying for a girl so prone to being aloof and alone. It was a little scary, but it also provoked a strange warmth in her chest that made Weiss smile.

Soon the sounds of fighting began to filter through the trees. Blake and Silas were the first to hear it as they approached (Nate having heard it long ago). Silas's ears flicked and Blake's bow (and therefore the ears beneath) twitched. They tensed, pushing themselves to go faster. Not long after, the sounds of roaring Grimm reached the ears of the rest of the group.

"Get ready," Ruby called.

"Weapons out," Bastion advised, sliding Resolution's safeties open.

Less than five minutes later they burst out of the trees onto a grassy slope that ran up to a cliff. There, at the base of the sheer rock wall, was a large King Taijitu, a huge pack of Beowolves and several Ursa Minor, all converged around one point. A strange purple glow leaked out between the Grimm, but whatever they had cornered was hidden from sight by the seething mass of shadow and bone.

A loud yell burst through the snarls and howls of the Grimm. An unfamiliar, distinctly human yell.

"Somebody's in there," Yang yelled.

"Didn't we already know that?" Nathaniel yelled back. Yang just grinned in reply.

"I think we should split up," Bastion called. "Come at them from different sides."

"Good idea," Ruby nodded. "Team RWBY, we'll take the left side. Weiss, you and I will take the far end. Yang and Blake come at them from closer to the middle."

"Right," Weiss agreed. Blake nodded and Yang smiled slightly, allowing some of her pride at her little sister's leadership skills to leak onto her face.

Bastion chuckled. She may have been young and still a little insecure, but it was clear to him that Ruby Rose was a born leader.

He turned his head to his team-mates, never breaking stride. "You heard the lady. We're heading right."

He looked back at Ruby and nodded. She nodded back and then the group split, the girls heading left while the boys took off towards the other side.

"Silas and Taka head for the middle," Bastion called. With a nod, the two boys changed tack and began to peel away from their team-mates.

"You ready?" Nate asked, clenching the metal-enchased fingers of his left arm in anticipation.

Bastion chuckled wryly. "About as ready as I'll ever be."

Turning his eyes to the cliff, Bastion examined the rock face, taking note of every groove and indent in the stone. He noticed a small shelf part of the way up, but quickly dismissed it. He couldn't shoot well enough from there.

As they approached the snarling mass of Grimm, the young leader's eyes finally landed on what he'd been searching for; the perfect vantage point. Rising from the base of the cliff at the centre of the huddle was a large pillar of stone whose tip would be well out of reach of any Beowolf or Ursa. The King Taijitu might be a problem if it could reach him, but he would have to trust his comrades to take care of that.

Guessing his partner's plan, Nate followed the blue-haired boy's line of sight to the pillar. "So you have to get through?"

Bastion nodded. "Yup."

Nathaniel grinned. "Let's do this!"

Bastion allowed himself a small smile at his partner's enthusiasm. Stopping for the briefest second, Bastion slammed the sides of both crutches into the specially designed AAL cases that were strapped to his sides, replacing the bullets with smoke rounds (which would cause the same amount of damage but give off a lot more smoke). Then he was on the move again, close on Nathaniel's heels.

They drew up alongside the cliff wall and charged straight at the mass of Grimm. The instant they were close enough Nate leapt into the air and fired the middle prong of his trident, which latched into the back of a Beowolf. With a sharp howl, the wolf turned to face its assailant, only to inadvertently swing the lion-boy around behind it. Instead, it came face-to face with one of Bastion's bullets. While the resulting smoke cloud did little to no harm to the other Grimm, it was more than enough to attract the attention of the nearest Beowolves. As Nate retracted his trident prong, Bastion fired another few bullets into the crowd of monsters. Any that the bullets didn't kill were quickly impaled by Nate's trident.

Something was odd about these Grimm, Bastion thought. It wasn't just the fact that there were so many different kinds all grouped together. There was something else that seemed off, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

As soon as the crowd of Grimm had thinned, Bastion fired himself forward and up, aiming for the nearest Ursa. Gravity slammed Resolution down onto the Ursa's neck and Bastion pulled the triggers, blowing off the beast's head and launching himself towards the cliff face.

As he rose above the crowd of Grimm, Bastion finally caught sight of what they had surrounded and his eyes widened in surprise. Kneeling against the stone pillar at the base of the cliff that Bastion had seen earlier, was a petite girl with platinum blonde hair and eyes like a pair of amethysts. Surrounding her was a pale purple dome of aura shot through with wisps of silver. Standing crouched several feet in front of her was another girl, this one in a brown leather jacket, her brown hair turning scarlet at the tips, a pair of knuckle blades in her hands.

Bastion hit the cliff wall and fired off it again, flipping to land atop the stone spire. The brown-haired girl glanced away from the Grimm for a moment, her green eyes darting his way. She looked as if she were about to say something, but at that moment the Taijitu's white head lashed forward, pulling her attention away.

Before she could react, a streak of purple shot from the aural dome behind her, forming a wall between her and the incoming Grimm. The snake-like head collided with the wall of aura with a loud thud and was stopped cold. It pulled back, hissing as it shook back and forth in disorientation. The brown-haired girl glanced back at the violet-eyed girl and smiled gratefully. Then she brought her weapons up in front of her, the blades extending until they were the length of short swords. Then she charged at the nearest Beowolf, beheading it in a single strike.

Bastion quickly switched his smoke rounds for regular bullets and deployed the stand beneath one of his crutches. He clicked a button and the small scope at the end of the barrel popped up. Instantly, a close-up image of the Beowolf that his gun was currently aimed at flickered to life on one side of his glasses lens. Instead of being a telescope-style device, Bastion's scope functioned more like a camera, transmitting the images to the lens of his high-tech glasses. He took aim and began sniping at the Grimm.

From his vantage point he could see Nate causing mayhem to his left, using his weapons, Neptune's Law, to devastating effect. Seeing him snare a pair of Ursi in nets, Bastion sent a bullet through the eye of one, while the Faunus boy finished off the other.

A quick glance told him that the others were all causing havoc among the monsters. To his right, Ruby spun from Grimm to Grimm with impossible speed, her scythe nothing more than a flash of death in her hands. Nearby, Weiss darted from side to side with a precision and grace that Bastion had rarely seen, stabbing monsters and launching them into the air with her glyphs.

Blake and Yang were fire and shadows. Yang was mass of flame and bullets as she slammed her gauntlets into opponent after opponent, while Blake was everywhere at once with the aid of what appeared to be multiple shadow-clones.

Not far away, Taka and Silas were throwing lightning left right and centre. Silas's semblance allowed him to generate the electricity whenever he so desired, often using it to augment his staff strikes. As Bastion watched, narrow, thirty-centimetre-long blades slid out of either end of his staves; midnight black blades on Dexter, the black staff in his right hand, and silver grey on Sinister, the grey staff in his left hand.

For Taka's part, he was using Hiryu and Rairyu, his weapons, to devastating effect. Rairyu, the weapon in his right hand, spewed streams of yellow Dust, igniting them into long clouds of lightning. Hiryu's red Dust sparked into fireballs, charring any Grimm that came near. As he dodged a strike from a Beowolf, Taka activated his weapons' other form with the click of a button. Immediately, a pair of long, smooth katana blades unfolded from within the handle, until Taka was holding two swords of differing lengths. Rairyu had become a full katana, with lightning dancing down its blade. Hiryu, on the other hand, had become a flaming wakizashi; a shorter version of a katana. Bastion also caught flashes of ice in the air and assumed that Taka's semblance was at work.

Speaking of semblances, Bastion realised that he had yet to use his own. Seeing the Taijitu raise its black head in preparation to strike at Silas, who happened to be nearest to it, he narrowed his eyes and focused his energy towards the large Grimm.

The monster struck with all the speed of a tortoise stuck in tar. It moved as though the air around it had thickened into gel, slowing it to a fraction of its normal speed. Seeing the looming head, Silas raised Dexter in his hand. The staff collapsed into gun form and, loading it quickly, Silas fired a barrage of bullets at the monster. As Bastion released it, the Grimm reeled back with a loud hiss of pain.

Knowing that his leader was responsible for the monster's drastic decrease in speed, Silas shot his friend a grin before turning back to the battle at hand. Bastion grinned back.

The nagging sensation that he was missing something returned. Something was wrong. But what?

The brown-haired girl was holding her own exceptionally well, taking down monster after monster with surprising speed and strength. Often, when a Grimm lashed out at her, a streak of purple aura would shoot from the dome at the base of Bastion's spire and blocked the strike. Bastion assumed that these were the work of the girl below him, who he could not actually see from his position.

From the combined efforts of the eight-hunters in training, as well as the two strange girls, the hordes of Grimm had thinned out considerably. But just as Bastion began to hope that they could win, a crash sounded from the forest away to his right. He glanced towards the source of the sound and his heart sank to see a herd of Boarbatusks come barrelling out of the woods, a group of Ursa Major hot behind them. His heart sank even further when another loud crash from his left heralded the arrival of a Death Stalker.

He gritted his teeth. There was no way they could win this without help.

Quickly swapping the rounds in the crutch that he wasn't using as a sniper rifle, Bastion aimed the barrel of the gun to the sky and fired a smoke bullet into the air. A moment later, he fired a second. The two collided at the height of their arc, about fifty feet up, and exploded into a gigantic cloud of smoke and flame. He lowered the crutch back to the ground, hoping that someone had seen his signal and would come to help.

He cupped both hands around his mouth. "Incoming!" When his companions glanced his way, he pointed to the right, in the direction of the approaching Boarbatusks and Ursi.

Then, taking a deep breath, he focused his semblance on the Death Stalker, slowing it to a crawl. He could have used it on the Boarbatusks instead, but they were further away and his semblance was more taxing to use over long distances. He wouldn't have been able to slow them down as much anyway; he could slow a single enemy drastically for a longer amount of time or he could slow a group of them less drastically for a shorter amount of time. In any case, that Death Stalker was worth at least six Boarbatusks, though there looked to be at least twice that number approaching, not to mention the Ursi running behind them.

Bastion shifted around and began to snipe at the incoming Boarbatusks. As his scope zoomed in on one of the monsters, Bastion realised what had been nagging at the edges of his mind. The eyes of Grimm creatures were usually in the orange to red colour zone. The eyes of these Grimm were all black.

A quick glance around told him that it was true of every monster in the vicinity. Not one of them had normal Grimm eyes. Every single one had eyes blacker than the deepest pits of hell.

Before he could wonder more about that strange fact, four humans burst out of the undergrowth to Bastion's right. A glance through his scope told him that they were the classmates that he recognised as Team JNPR. They must have seen his signal and come to investigate.

Leaving the Ursa Major and Boarbartusks to them, Bastion turned to face the Death Stalker, which was crawling on at a quarter of its normal speed. Feeling the strain of using his semblance for so long on such a large creature, he lessened the strength of the technique and allowed the Death Stalker to double its current speed (though it was still only half as quick as usual). He took careful aim and began to fire bullets at its eyes.

Below Bastion, Blake narrowly dodged a strike from the King Taijitu's black head. Leaving Yang to handle the remaining Ursi, the cat-eared Faunus took a running leap and alighted on the rising head. Before the beast could shake her off, she stabbed down with Gambol Shroud, impaling it through the eye. The Taijitu thrashed beneath her, throwing her into the air. As her feet left the Grimm's scales she yanked sharply on Gambol Shroud, carving a furrow in the monster's head as the blade was dragged out of the eye socket.

She hit the ground with a soft thud, landing on her feet within the coils of the giant snake-like monster. Acting quickly, before the beast could tighten its coils around her, she leapt onto the Grimm's body and flipped off it, landing safely on the other side, right next to Silas and Taka.

The wolf-Faunus glanced at her, while his partner shot her a grin.

Taka turned to Silas. "I'll handle the Beowolves. You two deal with the Taijitu."

With a sharp nod Silas turned to face the giant monster, exchanging an affirming glance with Blake. Readying himself, he brought Dexter, still in gun form, up in preparation to shoot at the beast. He spun Sinister in his left hand, the grey metal blurring into a deadly disk by his side.

Blake readied Gambol shroud. As soon as the white head drew near, both Faunus began to fire as quickly as they could. When that approach didn't seem to do much damage, Silas leapt forward and swung Sinister at its body, the blade at the end of the staff opening a deep gash in the monster's side. As the creature hissed in pain, he shifted his grip on Sinister and then threw the weapon like a javelin, straight into the monster's eye. The long shaft of the staff allowed it to pierce deeper than a sword could, and the white head hit the ground with a life-less whump.

Transforming Dexter back into a bladed staff, Silas leapt over the now-dead head with Blake right beside him. As the wolf-Faunus ran out to attract the black head's attention, Blake shifted behind it. When the head struck at Silas, he dodged to the side and slashed at its shout. Before it could rear back, Blake leapt forward and swung Gambol Shroud, now in sword form, at its body, managing to slice through half of its large form. The remaining head thrashed wildly, probably half-dead already. Silas quickly leapt into the air and slammed down onto its snout, driving its half-severed head back to the ground. Before the beast had the chance to move again, Blake dashed forward and severed its head completely.

Neatly hopping off the now detached head, Silas retrieved Sinister from the eye of the white head. With his weapon safely back in his hand, he offered Blake a smile. She smiled back briefly, before being distracted by one of the few remaining Beowolves.

Team JNPR had managed to eradicate all of the Ursa Major before they could reach the group. A few of the Boarbatusks, however, managed to make it through. Hearing the squeal of the boar-Grimm behind her, Ruby spun away just in time to avoid the beast's sharp tusks. Before she could return the attack, a shape that Ruby recognised as Pyrrha's weapon Miló, in javelin form, embedded itself in the Grimm's eye, killing it instantly.

"Thanks Pyrrha," Ruby called cheerfully.

The older girl smiled as she retrieved her weapon. "You're welcome."

Behind her, Nora was having all too much fun as she slammed a Boarbatusk over the head with Magnhild, giggling madly as she did so. Beside her, Ren fired a rapid barrage of bullets from StormFlower at another approaching boar-Grimm. Jaune had engaged a third, the sword half of Crocea Mors flashing in his hand, the shield half a barrier from harm. Pyrrha gave a proud smile as she glanced his way. His training lessons with her had definitely been paying off.

That left four Boarbatusks still running free. Weiss took care of the nearest one, hurling it into the air with a well-placed glyph. Not giving it the chance to hit the ground, the heiress launched herself up after it, slashing Myrtenaster across its belly and opening a deadly gash in the beast. She landed in a perfect crouch as the body of the Grimm hit the ground behind her.

Yang made short work of another, slamming her gauntlet-encased fist into its side and releasing a flurry of bullets into it a point-blank range. As the squealing pig-grim thrashed on the ground, she silenced it with an explosive blow to the head.

Taka had dealt with the third already. Hiryu's blade retracted and the back of the handle shifted and moved, until the weapon's shape was reminiscent of a gun. One of the buttons had become a trigger, which he pulled sharply, firing a volley of fireballs at the beast. Halting his fire, he focused his energy on the Grimm before him. A second later, tendrils of ice began to creep up from the ground and encase the Boarbatusk's body. In moments the Grimm was frozen solid. Then Taka dashed forward and swung Rairyu in a devastating blow that shattered the frozen beast into pieces.

Off to the side, the Death Stalker finally keeled over, Bastion's pinpoint-accurate shots having done their damage. Nate finished off the last of the Beowolves by impaling it with his trident.

Ruby took off after the final Boarbatusk, using her semblance to catch up in a split second. She hooked Crescent Rose beneath its neck and pulled on the trigger; the recoil jerking the blade towards her and beheading the Grimm.

The brown-haired stranger had confronted the final monster, an Ursa, lashing out with her blades and carving deep wounds in its sides.

Content to let her finish it off on her own, though prepared to intervene if need be, Bastion returned his sniper rifle to its position as a crutch and fired himself off the spire to land beside his friends.

"Who's that?" Jaune asked, indicating the girl currently fighting the Ursa. "And that?" he looked behind her to the pale girl by the cliff.

"We don't know," Ruby replied. "They were there when we got here."

"You looked like you were in a bit of trouble," Ren observed.

Bastion nodded. "That's why I signalled. I was hoping someone would see it and come to help."

"You're lucky we were nearby," Pyrrha smiled.

With a sharp yell, the brown-haired girl finished off the Ursa, stabbing it through the chest. As the dead beast fell, she turned to the Beacon students and opened her mouth to say something.

Then she collapsed to the ground.

A sharp cry sounded from the girl by the cliff as she staggered to her feet. "Amaryl!" She stumbled forward a couple of steps, battling exhaustion as she tried to reach her friend.

Then her body gave out and she fainted as well.

* * *

From the cliff above, a dark shadow watched with distaste as his forces were destroyed.

Oh well, he thought. He would just have to find another way to eliminate the girl.

* * *

**And there you have it. We've actually started to get into the plot now.**

**And yeah, more OCs. There's gonna be a lot in this story, so be prepared. Like I said, I'll try to keep you from hating them (unless you're meant to hate them. In which case I will do everything in my power to ensure that you do).**

**For anyone who is wondering, a kusarigama is a chain scythe. And if anyone has trouble picturing Amaryl's knuckle blades, think of the ones that Asuma from Naruto uses.**

**If you loved it or if you hated it, or even if you're just 'meh', REVIEW!**

**Until the next chapter.**

**- Forever a Cookie**


	4. Chapter Three: Tales of Light and Shadow

**Hey hey :)**

**So, I have yet to upload a chapter of this story at a time earlier than one in the morning (it's four thirty where I am now. I think Chapter One was uploaded at seven AM). I'm not sure if that shows that I'm dedicated to this story so much as I just love staying up late writing. Of course, that means I never proofread, so if you find spelling or grammatical errors...yeah, sorry.**

**There may also be a lull in updates for a few weeks, since I'm going home for the school holidays (no, not the summer, especially since it's winter here in the southern hemisphere) to a place that is paradise on earth, but where I have limited internet access. So yeah, fair warning.**

**Anyhoo, new chapter. I couldn't think of a better title, so I went with this. Enjoy.**

**Just as an aside, can anyone tell me what I based Nate's weapons on? Think about it; trident, nets, armour only on one arm****, **Nathaniel Rome... Anybody?

**I am not nearly awesome enough to own RWBY.**

* * *

**Chapter Three: Tales of Light and Shadow**

Ruby pushed open the door to the infirmary and stepped inside. Her eyes caught a flash of blue as she entered and she smiled. It looked like she wasn't the first one here.

"Hey," Bastion called softly from his seat by the window.

"Hey there," she replied, shutting the door softly behind her and moving to take a seat beside him. She let her eyes rove over the small, pale girl on the bed before her, and the brown-and-red haired girl on the bed beyond that. "No change?"

"Nothing," he shook his head. "They're both as still as they've been all day."

Ruby sighed. "I hope they're okay."

After both girls had collapsed in the forest yesterday, Teams RWBY, JNPR and BSTN knew that they couldn't leave the strangers there. After a quick discussion between Bastion, Blake, Pyrrha and Ren, they had determined the correct direction to go in to reach the ruins (the original destination of their field test) and had taken off, carrying the unfamiliar girls with them.

Ozpin and Goodwitch had been more than surprised to see three of their teams staggering into the ruins together, just before sunset, carrying two strangers. They had called a small airship in immediately and all three teams had flown back to Beacon with the unconscious girls. The two had been in the infirmary for a full night and almost a full day now. Whenever they had the chance, members of the three teams would pop in to check on them, feeling a strange attachment to the newcomers.

Bastion gazed at the girl in front of him. Her pale, flaxen hair was fanned out gracefully on the pillow beneath her head and her eyelids were shut over her amethyst eyes. While her companion occasionally shifted uncomfortably, as though in pain, the pale girl had barely moved. She had twitched as if dreaming a few times, but other than that she had been still as a statue. She looked for all the world like some sort of peacefully slumbering princess, a Sleeping Beauty in her own right.

The door creaked open behind them as Jaune, Pyrrha, Taka, Nate , Weiss and Yang slipped quietly into the room.

"Nothing?" Jaune asked as he took a seat on the empty bed behind Ruby.

"Nothing," Ruby sighed.

They lapsed into silence for a while, just staring worriedly at the two mysterious girls. Then…

"Where do you think they came from?" Yang asked.

"And what were they doing in the woods?" Pyrrha added.

Bastion sighed and shook his head. "No clue."

Taka's eyes narrowed. "Maybe so, but I feel like Professor Ozpin knows more than he's letting on."

"What makes you say that?" Yang asked curiously.

"Call it a hunch," Taka shrugged.

It was a hunch, in a way. But Taka had seen the recognition in the Headmaster's eyes when he'd seen the pale girl in Taka's arms yesterday. Professor Ozpin knew who this girl was, of that he was sure.

After another long bout of silence, Weiss spoke. "What do you think her name is?" She inclined her head towards the unconscious, blonde-haired girl.

Ruby tilted her head and looked at the small girl. "Probably something pretty. She looks like the type of girl that would have a really pretty name."

An unfamiliar voice answered. "Lilac."

Eight pairs of eyes snapped up, alighting on the brown-haired girl who was sitting up and looking straight at them.

"Her name is Lilac."

* * *

In the hallway outside, Blake and Silas sat on the bench by the door. Only eight visitors were allowed in at a time and Nora had dragged Ren away some time ago, saying something about pancakes and syrup.

Blake glanced sidelong at the other Faunus. Though they'd had classes together for four days now and their teams had run into each other occasionally, they had yet to have so much as a single conversation. There had been a lingering sense of camaraderie since the battle yesterday, but still they had yet to say so much as a word to each other. Not that Blake necessarily minded; she never had been one for lengthy conversation.

Still, one of them had to say something eventually. It might as well be her.

"Your ponytail is different."

Silas laughed out loud, fingering his hair. The ponytail that had previously been at the base of his neck had been moved up to the back of his crown. It looked a lot neater that way, with more of his choppily cut hair tucked into the hair tie, though the odd lock still escaped to hang around his face. The combination lent him a ruffled and slightly wild, yet still proud and regal appearance. The overall effect was very wolf-like.

"Nate's been pestering me to wear it like this for a while," he explained. "I finally gave in. This style is called a 'warrior's wolf-tail', according to him."

Blake quirked an eyebrow. "You don't say."

"I do say," he smiled. He glanced up at her bow. "Cat ears?" he queried.

Blake blinked in surprise. She supposed that her bow twitching must have given her away at some point, but it was still surprising to hear that he had figured it out so easily. "Um, yeah."

He grinned. "Nice to have another Faunus around." His grin only widened when he realised that those were the exact words that Nate had used upon meeting him.

She allowed herself a slight smile in return. "I'm not the only one in the school."

"Oh, I know. I've seen them around. You're just the first that I've actually said anything to." He shrugged. "My team hasn't exactly been socialising these last few days. Not that I mind, honestly."

"Not much of a people person?" she asked.

"Not really, no. Before I met my team I was kind of a lone wolf, no pun intended."

She smiled. She could relate. "I'm not much for conversation either."

"I've noticed," he chuckled. "And yet, here we are."

She gave a soft laugh of her own. "Here we are."

"Which reminds me; we were never properly introduced. Blake, right?"

She nodded. "And your name is Silas, yes?"

"Yes."

They lapsed into companionable silence, feeling no need to talk any further for the time being.

The stillness was disrupted when Yang flung open the door.

"Go get Professor Ozpin," the blonde said urgently. "One of them woke up."

* * *

Ruby stared in surprise at the brown-haired girl now sitting up in bed. "You're awake!"

"Apparently." The girl examined her body, finding herself clothed in what resembled a loose pair of white pyjamas with the Beacon crest stitched into the breast of the shirt; Beacon infirmary-issue hospital clothes. Her own clothes were sitting on the dressing table beside her, with her weapons and other belongings sitting in a small backpack on the floor below. "Where am I?"

"Beacon Academy," Nathaniel answered. "You're in the infirmary."

The girl nodded to herself. "How long was I out?"

"Almost a full twenty-four hours," Taka said.

The girl frowned slightly and nodded to her still-unconscious companion. "How has she been?"

"About the same as you," Bastion replied. "She seems to be okay, from what the nurses can tell."

The girl nodded again, her green eyes softening.

"You said her name was…Lilac?" Ruby asked.

Professor Ozpin's voice made them jump. "Indeed. Lilac Delphia."

"Professor!" Ruby cried. "You got here quickly."

Ozpin smiled. "I was on my way to check in with our patients myself when Mister Fenrir and and Miss Belladonna found me." He indicated the mentioned pair, who had entered behind him along with Nora and Ren. "We encountered Mister Lie and Miss Valkyrie on our way here. I see Miss Delphia has not yet awoken."

"You know her?" Weiss asked.

"I know _of_ her. I've never met her in person. I was expecting her arrival, though I was _not_ expecting to find her and her guardian in the forest."

The brown-and-red-haired girl spoke up. "I'm assuming you're the headmaster?"

Ozpin nodded. "Indeed. I am Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy. Although I must admit, I was not expecting Miss Delphia's guard to be a girl. I believe the letter that I received mentioned an Alexander?"

"That's actually A. Lexander," the girl corrected. "Amaryl Lexander, at your service."

"Ah," Ozpin smiled. "My apologies, Miss Lexander."

The girl shrugged. "No biggie."

Ruby opened her mouth to ask a question. "What-?"

She was cut off when the sleeping girl in front of her made a soft humming sound and shifted in her bed, her brow furrowing slightly. The entire group watched with hawk-like intensity, but she did nothing but shift slightly.

Then, after a few minutes, she opened her eyes.

She gazed around in confusion for a moment, before her eyes settled on Amaryl. "Amaryl! Are you okay?"

The other girl smiled. "I'm fine. It was mainly exhaustion, only minor wounds."

The paler girl sighed. "That's good then." She pushed herself into a sitting position, running her gaze over the three teams that stood or sat at various points around her, as well as the headmaster that stood at the foot of her bed. "Is this Beacon?"

"It is," Ozpin replied. "I am Professor Ozpin, the headmaster here. Are you feeling alright, Miss Delphia?"

The girl nodded. "Yes, thank you."

After a moment of silence, Ruby spoke up. "Hi! I'm Ruby."

The girl smiled. "My name is Lilac. Lilac Delphia."

"I'm Bastion," the blue-haired leader of Team BSTN offered.

"I'm Nathaniel."

"Taka Kaneshiro, at your service."

"The name's Jaune Arc."

"I'm Pyrrha."

"I'm Weiss."

"I'm Yang."

"Silas."

"Blake."

"Nora!"

"My name is Ren."

The girl laughed softly. "It might take me a while to get all those names straight, but it's nice to meet you."

Weiss spoke up, a frown on her face. "Delphia… Your last name sounds familiar. Isn't your family noble?"

The girl nodded. "I guess so, yeah. We're supposedly descended from royalty, and we have a lot of illustrious people in our family history, hunters mainly."

"So what were you doing in the forest?" Yang asked.

The girl sighed. "It's kind of a long story."

When no one moved, she took a deep breath and then began.

"My family runs a… a monastery of sorts in the mountains, where one learns both to fight and to connect with oneself and ones surroundings spiritually. It's quite small, but relatively well known all the same. You may have heard of it; the Amethyst Temple?"

Ren, Taka and Weiss nodded. Pyrrha and Bastion's eyes widened in recognition.

"No way," Ruby gasped. "My Uncle Qrow told me about that place. Some of the greatest hunters in history are supposed to have been trained there!"

"I thought that place was just a legend," Nate gaped.

Lilac smiled in amusement. "No, it's real all right. It's pretty isolated and we don't have a lot of acolytes, so it's not surprising that a lot of people seem to think it's a legend. And yes, when they leave the monastery many of the acolytes do become hunters, though they need at least a year in a place like Beacon to complete their education and qualify for the job. Our monastery teaches fighting techniques and aura control, but for more technical things they need to come to a hunters' school for a bit."

"Anyway," she continued. "My family is very spiritual. It has been for generations. And that's because, every few generations, someone like me shows up. I…" She paused, glancing at the students hesitantly. She looked at Ozpin questioningly. When he nodded, she continued.

"I have visions."

There were many raised eyebrows and gasps of surprise at this. Before they could ask any questions, she kept going. "I have dreams that predict the future. Sometimes they're straightforward and easy to understand. Most of the time they're not."

She paused again and looked at them to gauge their reactions. When they remained silent, waiting for her to continue, she carried on.

"A few months ago, I had a dream of one of the nearby villages being attacked by Grimm and burned to the ground. I warned my parents, and we were able to get word out in time to save the village. Then, a few weeks later, two of our graduates were going hunting in the woods when they were ambushed by a horde of Grimm. I'd had a dream about it a few days before, and they had agreed to allow team to follow them at a discreet distance. Because of that, they both survived. Two days later the attempts on my life started."

"Ever since I became a teenager, Grimm have been drawn to me more than normal," she explained. "But in the last few months it's been worse than ever. Now I can barely set foot outside the temple without being attacked. Usually the forest around the temple is safe and Grimm-free, but more and more have been sneaking through recently, some making it all the way to the temple walls. They're venturing closer to the towns and are attacking in large groups made up of many different kinds of Grimm. As you know, that almost never happens. And all of them have black eyes."

"Like the Grimm yesterday," Bastion noted.

Lilac nodded. "Exactly like that. Often they just ignore the others and head straight for me, like someone's painted a glowing target on my head. That's where Amaryl comes in." She indicated the girl in the bed beside hers.

"I'm her bodyguard, basically," The brown-haired girl supplied.

Lilac nodded. "Mmmhm. Anyway, just over a week ago I had another vision and in it I saw this place; Beacon Academy. We weren't sure what the significance of it was, since the dream wasn't too clear on that, but we decided that between my vision and the need for my safety it would be best for me to come here. We sent a letter to Professor Ozpin, who agreed to let me stay here."

"I was expecting your arrival to be by airship," Ozpin commented.

Lilac sighed. "We were attacked by two huge Nevermores and we were steered off course, then shot down over the forest. Amaryl and I managed to escape unscathed, but our pilot and crew…weren't so lucky. We managed to survive in the forest for two days and made our way towards Beacon. And then you found us."

Her story complete, she leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. The last few days had been draining, and she was still quite tired.

Bastion noticed the fatigue on her face and got to his feet. "You must still be tired. We'll let you rest. Thank you for telling us your story." He shot his team-mates a meaningful look and headed for the door. With a series of polite goodbyes, the other three members of Team BSTN turned and followed their leader out. Catching on, Teams RWBY and JNPR bade the two girls goodbye and left as well, leaving them with Professor Ozpin.

As soon as the door swung shut behind the last of them, Ozpin took a seat and eyed the girls seriously. "Now, have you had anymore dreams recently?"

Ozpin had long been an acquaintance of the Delphia family, and knew much about the dreams of the Delphia Oracles. He knew that an Oracle's dream was never wrong, no matter what it signified. Any information, any hints, however vague, about their situation would be invaluable.

Lilac nodded. "I had the same dream again just now, of Beacon Academy surrounded by shadows. Then I had a new one. I see a chessboard, and the black pawns have advanced across the board while the white pieces haven't moved at all. Then the white knight and the white rook move forward. The other white rook moves forward as well, and then suddenly becomes the white king. The white queen appears beside it, and they join the rook and the knight on the front line. Then I woke up."

Ozpin nodded, pressing his fingertips together. He was silent for a long moment, and then spoke. "I see. Well then, you are obviously tired and I will leave you two to rest."

He got to his feet and bowed slightly before turning and walking out the door.

The two girls were still for several moments, before Amaryl remarked quietly, "There's something else, isn't there?"

Lilac sighed. "Since when did you know me so well?"

Amaryl smirked. "I honestly don't know. Rooming with you for just over a month probably helped some."

Lilac smiled. "Probably." Then she sighed again, all traces of happiness gone. "I don't know, Am. I just get a really bad feeling when I see that chessboard. A really bad sense of foreboding. This will be a war, Am. And people are going to die."

A heavy silence descended and both girls were motionless as they digested the thought of war. To Lilac, war was something foreign, something totally removed from her life. She knew it existed, of course, but she also knew that she had been sheltered behind temple walls her entire life. The idea of war…it terrified her.

The oracle turned to her friend and opened her mouth to speak. Then she hesitated, unsure how to begin. "Am… Now that I'm here…"

"Stop right there," Amaryl interjected sharply. "There is no way I'm ditching you now, Princess. My job is to guard you, and guard you I will." She grinned. "That is what your family's paying me for."

Lilac quirked an eyebrow at her friend. "You realise that you don't get paid for after I get to Beacon, right? Your job technically ended the second I arrived here."

The other girl snorted and waved it off. "Details. If you think I'm going to just abandon you now, you've got another thing coming. 'Sides, it's not like I have anything better to do with my time anyway."

Lilac laughed softly. "There's no way I'm going to win this argument, is there?"

"Nope. Now sleep. You _are_ still tired, I can tell. And before you say anything, yes, I promise I'll get some sleep too."

Lilac chuckled and snuggled back under the covers. "Okay." A moment later she was fast asleep.

* * *

Back in their dorm room, Team RWBY was busy debating the new additions to their academy.

"She can actually tell the future," Ruby squealed from her bunk. "That's so cool!"

"It doesn't sound like something she can control," Blake pointed out from her own bed, her eyes on the book in her hands.

Ruby deflated a little at that. "Still cool though."

"Her family _is_ noble, even if they stay secluded from the world most of the time," Weiss mused aloud as she paced back and forth. "And they have ties to several highly skilled hunters. She would be a useful acquaintance."

Blake rolled her eyes. Sometimes it seemed like all the heiress thought about was politics.

"We sure are getting a lot of new students here," Yang commented, her blonde mane dangling over the edge of her mattress. "First Team BSTN, now these two."

"We don't know that they'll be students here yet," Blake pointed out. "That Lilac girl just said that they were staying here. They didn't say anything about going to classes or anything like that. Besides, in the long run, you need to be part of a four-person team for field assignments and things like that."

Yang just shrugged in response. Then she grinned and looked over at her sister. "Speaking of Team BSTN, you seemed awfully chummy with Bastion, Ruby."

Ruby shrugged. "I guess we're friends. He's nice. Why?"

"Friends? You sure that's all it is?" Yang waggled her eyebrows. "He is pretty cute. They all are." She added the last part in an undertone.

Ruby balked at the implication. "No! We're just friends. Honestly!" He was a nice guy, but she didn't think of him like _that_.

Weiss watched her leader's denial with narrowed eyes. Bastion did seem nice (she reminded herself that she still had to apologise to him), but she didn't like the idea of Ruby dating some guy she had just met. It gave her an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. She resolved that if he ever hurt Ruby, he would have an even greater need for those crutches.

Yang shrugged again and stuck her head over the side of her bunk to look at her partner. "So Blake, what's with you and the wolf-Faunus boy. Silas?"

Blake sighed. She could see where this was going. "Yes, his name is Silas. We've spoken once, for approximately two minutes. Why is that interesting?"

"No reason. So, do you liiike him?"

The Faunus fixed her partner with an exasperated look. "I just told you I've only spoken to him once."

The blonde brushed it off. "Yeah, but neither of you seems like the type to waste words. For all I know you two could be connecting on some non-verbal level. Didn't you two kill that King Taijitu together yesterday?"

Blake rolled her eyes, shook her head and proceeded to block out her persistent partner with the pages of her book.

* * *

The moon shone down on the City of Vale, its light lost to the people on the street below, overtaken by the streetlamps that lined the sidewalks.

Above the street, a masked man in a hood gazed up at the shattered silver circle, enjoying the silver light it provided. He loved the moon.

The man was dressed all in black leather, from his hooded jacket to his gloves to his soft-soled boots. The forest green sash tied around his waist lent a signature look to the outfit, the ends of the sash hanging limp at his side in the still night air. A feature-less black mask concealed his face, the colour blending with the shadows cast by his hood. His staff lay at the small of his back, in collapsed form, looking like a small rod with a dust crystal on either end. His knife was sheathed just beneath it. On his left hip sat cases of ammunition, spare dust crystals and useful little gadgets.

The sound of running feet caught his attention. He dropped his eyes to an alley to his left, where he saw a group of people gathering in the shadows. Moving like a ghost, he dropped to a low level of the nearby fire-escape and listened in.

"We did well tonight," one man chuckled.

"Two grand in cash," another agreed, rubbing his hands together like a cliché movie villain.

"That old geezer never knew what hit him," a woman sneered, unzipping the duffel bag in his hands to reveal bundles of lien stashed inside.

The masked man had heard enough. Without so much as a whisper, he dropped to the ground behind the group of crooks.

Unaware of his presence, the thieves continued cackling over their prize. "We keep this up and we'll be rich," another man grinned.

"I don't suppose you're going to return that."

The group jumped at the masked man's voice (disguised though it was with the voice distortion device hidden under his mask).

Before they could react, the masked man pulled out his staff, the small rod lengthening in his hand until it reached its full six-and-a-half feet. He spun it easily in one hand for a moment, allowing his adversaries time to properly register his presence. He wanted them to remember this.

A moment later, everything disintegrated into a blur of action. The group of thugs were no match for the masked man's lightning fast blows, each one devastating and all delivered with flawless precision and technique. Not that any of the thugs realised this. All they knew was that one second they had heard a strange voice and seen a man behind them, the next they were out cold.

Finally, only one man remained. He had had the sense to run the second the fight broke out, but he didn't make it far. After making short work of his friends, the masked man replaced his staff and covered the distance between them in two strides.

The thug gasped in terror as he was hoisted up by his shirt-front. "Who…Who are you?!"

The masked man paused for a moment. "Call me Sentinel."

His fist was the last thing the thug saw before his world went black.

* * *

The next morning, the police found a duffel bag full of lien waiting on their doorstep, along with a note containing directions to an alley not far away, where they found a group of thieving thugs tied up neatly waiting for them.

* * *

**So yeah. That happened.**

**It should be starting to become a little more obvious where I'm going with the pairing thing, for two of them at least (just as a hint, Yang's teasing isn't entirely**** on the mark).**

**If anyone can guess Sentinel's real identity, I won't be surprised. If people can't, well, I guess that means I actually managed to get away with keeping his identity a mystery.**

**Review and tell me what you thought :)**

**Until the next chapter**

**- Forever a Cookie**


	5. Chapter Four: Storm in a Bottle - Part 1

**Hey, so turns out I have Wi-Fi at home now. So this hiatus was nowhere near as long as expected.**

**Short AN; I'm in a rush. This was written in the early hours again, not proofread, so apologies for spelling and grammar mistakes.**

**New chapter. Enjoy :)**

_**Edit: F**__**orgot the disclaimer.**_

_**Also, thanks to Relks the Disturbed for reviewing.**_

_**This is a disclaimer. You can fill in the blanks.**_

* * *

**Chapter Four: Storm in a Bottle - Part 1: All is Calm, For Now**

"Did you hear? Sentinel totally wiped out a smuggling ring last night."

"Really? I heard he saved a rich old lady from being mugged."

"Well I heard he beat up a group of White Fang assassins."

"Man, he is so awesome!"

Weiss rolled her eyes. Didn't her fellow students have a better use for their time than gossiping about some vigilante?

It had been just over a month since the arrival of Lilac and Amaryl at Beacon, and in the past weeks a vigilante calling himself Sentinel had suddenly appeared and begun taking down criminals in Vale City. In a matter of days his name was known to half the police force. At three weeks his name was being whispered in the hallways between classes and articles were cropping up in newspapers. A week later he was nothing short of a celebrity, virtually a superhero to his rapidly growing fanbase.

As a general rule, Weiss disliked vigilantes and what they stood for. They operated outside the law, using the shadows and the cover of night to do work that was best left to the police.

"So what do you guys think of Sentinel?" Yang asked.

Weiss groaned softly. Even her own teammates insisted on gossiping about this ruffian.

"He seems…okay," Blake murmured. "As long as he doesn't take things too far."

Under their current leadership, the White Fang had started out as a group of vigilantes who had quickly graduated to murder and grand larceny. As far as Blake could tell, this Sentinel didn't seem to be going much farther than apprehending criminals and gift-wrapping them for the police. She just hoped that he didn't decide to take things much further. Someone else like the White Fang was the last thing the world needed right now.

"I think he's awesome," Nate grinned. "Right, Silas?"

After the battle in the forest, Teams RWBY and JNPR (with the notable exception of Weiss) had taken to inviting Team BSTN to sit with them at lunch and during class. With a sense of camaraderie still lingering, the three teams had quickly warmed to each other and become friends (again, with notable exceptions where Weiss was concerned).

"I don't think he's so great," Silas said with a shrug. "He's doing good things, but I think people are exaggerating."

Weiss snorted.

"Do you have something to say, Princess?" the wolf-Faunus asked, his even monotone at odds with his icy glare. He still hadn't dropped his grudge against Weiss for her earlier commentary on Bastion.

Weiss didn't care for his tone. "I just don't approve of ruffians who think they're above the law," she replied loftily, nose in the air. "Crime-fighting should be left to the police."

"That's one opinion on the matter," Taka replied, his tone coolly pleasant. "I personally approve of his actions." While not especially hostile towards the heiress, the young Kaneshiro heir had made no effort at all to be particularly friendly towards her either. He was pleasantly cordial and nothing more.

Before Weiss could deliver a retort, Bastion broke in. "Let's just agree to disagree, shall we? I'm with Nate and Taka, personally, but let's not argue over this." He placed a pacifying hand on Silas's shoulder and offered Weiss a smile.

Out of all of Team BSTN, Bastion alone was nice to the Schnee heiress, treating her with the same warmth that he did everyone else. His kindness baffled Weiss. Had someone said those things about her, she'd probably never forgive them. The rest of his team certainly hadn't forgiven her, and she hadn't said anything about them. His propensity for forgiveness astounded her. It also reminded her in no small way of her own leader, and that just made her feel even worse for not having apologised to him yet.

"Whatever," she snorted, turning her head away.

Nate scowled and opened his mouth to something. Before he could, he felt Bastion's other hand land on his shoulder and squeeze gently. _Don't._ With a soft snort, Nate closed his mouth and slumped back in his chair.

In an attempt to lighten the mood, Yang tried to change the subject. "So," she began, looking over at Ren and Nora, "where are Jaune and Pyrrha?"

"They're training," Nora piped up cheerily. "Jaune asked if they could train at lunch today and Pyrrha said yes. They take this training thing reeeeally seriously."

"If you say so," Yang smirked. She had suspicions of her own as to why the two JNPR members were so eager to spend time together.

"It's nice that Jaune is so eager to improve," Ruby smiled. "We team leaders have to try hard to live up to our positions," she finished proudly.

Weiss smiled. It was nice to see Ruby taking her responsibility seriously.

Bastion grinned at the red-hooded girl. "You've got that right. We have to do our best, and if there's something holding us back we have to find a way around it, to be the best we can be for our teams."

Nathaniel grinned and punched his partner playfully in the arm. "Aw shucks. Didn't know you cared about us so much."

The blue-haired boy just laughed and rubbed his arm.

Weiss shifted uncomfortably. It was obvious that Bastion had had his disability in mind when he spoke about overcoming obstacles. And that just reminded her yet again that she still had yet to apologise for her harsh words over a month ago. Any hope she might have had of it just dying out of peoples' minds vanished under Silas's constant icy hostility, Nathaniel's continued dislike and Taka's aloofness. Butsomething was holding her back. In part, it was reluctance to bend in such a way. Apologising in general was not something Weiss Schnee did very well.

But there was something else. As she watched Ruby exchange proud grins with the other leader, something uncomfortable coiled in her stomach. She remembered her earlier resolution to hurt Bastion if he ever hurt Ruby. Perhaps that had a hand in it somehow. When she thought of the possibility of him dating and hurting the younger girl, a surge of dislike ran through her. It must be protectiveness for her leader, she thought. That must be it.

Still, it was a silly reason to prevent her from taking responsibility for her words. Besides, she didn't even know if Ruby did like him that way. It was all just a product of Yang's stupid teasing. She had her own responsibility to bear, and she wouldn't let this stop her.

Before she could open her mouth, Taka spoke up. "The bell will be going soon, and I think everyone is finished with their lunch. Why don't we head to class?"

There was a murmur of assent from around the table and then a collective grinding sound as they pushed back their chairs and got to their feet. Across from her, Bastion pushed himself up and grabbed the crutches leaning against the back of his chair. His team automatically fell into place around him.

That was something Weiss had noticed recently; despite being Beacon's newest team, the four boys already seemed to instinctively know how to move around each other. They oriented themselves with an inherent ease that only came from years of comradeship. When walking through the halls they automatically moved into a loose protective formation that placed Bastion in the middle, with the other three evenly spaced around him. Now that she'd noticed it, Weiss realised that they'd been doing it ever since they'd arrived. She doubted that they even realised what they were doing. It was just impulsive. They were always like that. In battle, each one always seemed to know what the others would do next, and they fought as a seamless whole.

Weiss sighed. She wished that her own team was that cohesive. She'd berated herself mentally the first time she'd had that thought, but the more she thought about it, the more she realised that it was not only true but a natural wish. That was what teams aimed for. Every team in Beacon strove to be a cohesive unit like that. They struggled to develop such unity over the course of their training, and to achieve that was a mark of how well a team worked together; that was what it meant to be a true team. Every team in Beacon strove for it, and Team BSTN had shown up with it already perfected on the first day. Weiss had to admit that she was just a little jealous. Just a little.

Pulling herself out of her thoughts before anyone noticed anything, she got to her feet and followed the rest of her team out of the dining hall. Nora and Ren split off soon after leaving the hall; they weren't in Team RWBY's next lesson. The whole of Team BSTN was, and upon pushing open the door to the classroom they discovered that they were the first to class.

As Team BSTN slid into their seats, Weiss took a deep breath and steeled herself. Now was the perfect time, when there was no one but the two teams around to hear her. Just because she had decided to apologise didn't mean that she wanted the whole world to know it.

Yang and Blake were already in their seats in the row below, and Ruby was just behind her. Weiss stopped level with Team BSTN and cleared her throat. She didn't like the thought of looking up at the boy while she apologised. She was lowering herself enough already.

She cleared her throat again. The four boys turned to face her.

"Yes?" Bastion asked kindly.

Weiss could sense her teammates looking at her curiously. Taking another deep breath, she began. "Bastion… I said some…unkind things about you when you and your team arrived at this academy and…" She struggled to get the words out. Just because she knew that she was wrong didn't mean this was easy. She still had her pride, and a Schnee's pride was not easily bent.

"You have…proven me wrong," she continued. "So I… apologise… for the things I said."

The blue-haired boy was frozen in surprise for a moment. He had not been expecting the heiress to be so forthright with her apology so soon. Then he smiled warmly. "Thank you," he replied softly.

She nodded sharply and moved stiffly to take her seat. As she did so, Yang leant over and clapped her on the back. Blake nodded approvingly, even gracing the heiress with a small smile.

As Ruby sat down beside her, Weiss felt her partner's hand slip into her own and give a grateful squeeze. Ruby's hands were surprisingly warm, she thought. Before she could savour that warmth, however, the hand was gone.

Weiss was in a surprisingly good mood for the rest of the period. She wondered at the warmth that filled her when she thought of her teammates' approval. She had noticed the feeling a few times before, and every instance involved her friends. _Friends_. The word was almost foreign to her. She hadn't had much contact with other children her own age as a young child. When she was a little older she had socialised with the children of other noble families, but those interactions had been nothing but cold and political. There had been no friendship there. So this warm feeling that she got around her teammates, as well as the members of Team JNPR, was strange to her. But though she had resisted it initially, Weiss found that she could not help but like it.

When the period came to an end and the students began to file out the door, Weiss glanced towards Team BSTN on her way out the door. Her eyes met Nathaniel's. He looked at her calmly and then, to her great surprise, he smiled. Just a tiny smile, not much more than a brief quirk of the lips, but it was a smile nonetheless. As he moved out, Taka caught her eyes and held them for a moment. Then he too smiled. The young heir inclined his head respectfully before moving along. Bastion just grinned brightly as he joined his teammates in the aisle.

Silas didn't meet her eyes at all as they moved out through the doors. Then, when the two teams drew level in the hallway a few moments later, he looked straight at her and ever so slowly nodded his head.

The warm feeling returned to Weiss, but it was slightly different this time. This time it was a sense of accomplishment combined with something else that, despite the heiress's attempts to stay haughty and indifferent, made her feel good about herself.

* * *

It was later that afternoon, and Bastion was once again wandering the school grounds alone. It was a habit of his to go on quiet wanderings in the afternoons. Sometimes one of his teammates joined him, but for the most part he walked alone. He loved his teammates (they were like the brothers that he'd never had) but it was nice to just be alone and enjoy the peace for a while. They all understood the sentiment; Taka often went off in search of quiet places to work (since his office at home was unavailable), Nate went off and trained on his own quite a lot and Silas had his… had his own 'solitary wanderings' quite frequently.

Ever since arriving at Beacon, the need for peaceful solitude had intensified. His quiet, pensive walks became a way to escape the judgemental eyes of his fellow students. Though the whispers had lessened somewhat since he had begun to participate fully in combat class, there were still those who mocked him for his disability.

The Beacon grounds were massive, and on his walks Bastion had found several small gardens, memorial statues and other such treasures tucked away into secluded spots and distant corners. In his latest wanderings he had discovered a large maze comprised of neatly trimmed, fifteen-foot-high walls of shrubbery hidden inside a copse of trees just over five minutes' walk from the dormitory. 'Maze' was perhaps not the right term, as there seemed to only be one path winding towards the centre.

The leaves towering above him cast dappled shadows across the ground as Bastion wound his way deeper in. As he turned yet another corner, he noticed a familiar purple light creeping around the next bend. Intrigued, he began to walk faster. Lilac and Amaryl had barely been seen since arriving at Beacon Academy. They'd been discharged from the infirmary two days after waking up, and had all but vanished since.

As he rounded the bend, Bastion was met with the sight of a beautiful garden. Beds of flowers spread in long rows around neatly pruned trees and shrubbery, with small paths tracing their way through to a central clearing. Four marble benches spread evenly around the edges of the clearing and in the very centre of sat a small fountain. The polished stone was carved into the shape of a cluster of flowers that wound intricately around each other, reaching a little higher than Bastion was tall, water flowing from within the stone petals and down into a small, shallow pool at the base.

Kneeling at the near edge of the central clearing was Lilac, her hands, which were hidden from Bastion's view by the shrubbery, seemingly outstretched over the flowerbed. Her aura surrounded her in a soft glow, streaks of silver flowing through the purple. She was humming quietly to herself, a gentle smile on her face.

Noticing Bastion's presence, she looked up in surprise. Then she smiled. "Hello."

He smiled back, making his way over. "Hi."

She stood up as he neared, brushing her hands off. "You're the first person I've seen in this place. It's Bastion, right?"

He nodded. "That's me. And you're Lilac."

She nodded and smiled again.

"I just stumbled on this by accident," he continued. "I wouldn't be surprised of most students don't know about it." He eyed her curiously. "What were you doing just now?"

Her eyes brightened. "I planted these a few days ago." She gestured to the bed at her feet, which was lined with small bushes behind the beginning bulbs of what looked to be lilies. "I was using my aura to help them grow faster."

Bastion's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You can do that?! I assumed your semblance was that protection thing that you did back in the forest. Or is this something else?"

Lilac laughed softly. "No, my semblance _is_ protective barriers. This is something else that I learned at the Amethyst Temple. You channel your aura into the plants, coax them to grow faster and provide the energy they need to do it."

"Can you teach me?" he asked eagerly.

She laughed softly. "Sure. But not on these. It's hard to do when you first try it and accidents happen, and I'd rather you not do any damage to these ones. No offense."

He smiled understandingly. "None taken." Then he peered at the bushes. "What are they, anyway?"

"The bushes are lilac," she said with a sheepish smile. "They were the most convenient that I had to hand. The flowers are what is commonly known as Amaryllis. It's the flower that Amaryl was named after. I figured that if my namesake was going to be here, hers should be too."

Bastion smiled. "A nice sentiment." He glanced around. "Speaking of your bodyguard, where is she?"

Lilac's smile became a touch exasperated. "I convinced her to take a break. When she tried to refuse I had to remind her that she wasn't officially my guard anymore. She should be back soon."

Bastion quirked a brow. "Not your guard anymore?"

Lilac shook her head. "No, technically her time as my official bodyguard came to an end as soon as I arrived at Beacon. It's a self-appointed title now."

He laughed. "Well, she cares about you a lot, so it's understandable."

Lilac's eyebrows rose in astonishment. "What makes you say that?"

Bastion shrugged. "She's obviously protective of you, and it's not hard to tell that she cares. If I had to guess, I'd say you're her best friend."

"Well, yes," Lilac said, a touch of surprise still in her voice. "I know that. She is mybest friend, and I think I'm hers. What I meant to say was how could you tell?"

He shrugged again. "I guess I'm good at reading people. It just seemed obvious to me."

She laughed softly and took a seat on the nearest bench, patting the spot next to her. "I suppose it isn't hard to see. She's probably my only real, close friend, truth be told. I see the apprentices around the temple a lot and I'm on good terms with them, but I don't have any that I'm particularly close to. I tended to keep to myself a lot before Am came around."

Bastion moved to sit beside her, a smile on his face. "It seems to me that you noble types tend not to have many friends."

"What makes you say that?" she asked. "You're right, as far as most cases go. I was a little different, but in any case, how do you know. More observation?" Her smile became almost teasing as she said the last part.

He shrugged and grinned. "In part. Taka didn't have any friends before Nate and I; he's said so himself. And Weiss hasn't said anything, but I think she was the same way before she met her teammates."

Lilac's eyes turned pensive as she searched for the faces in her memory to match the names. "Taka. His family name is Kaneshiro, right? And Weiss is the girl with the white hair?"

Bastion nodded.

"What family does she belong to?"

"Schnee."

Comprehension lit Lilac's face. "Aah. Two of the most prominent families in the world. I'm lucky. From what I hear, my family is different from most. They still taught me 'proper etiquette' but they weren't overly strict about it. Some of the apprentices end up developing similar habits anyway, just because the temple encourages politeness and good table manners."

Her smile turned wry. "Mind you, it is only encouraged, not particularly enforced, so we have our fair share sloppy people. Anyway, I digress. My point is, my parents didn't enforce much in the way of a noble upbringing, and I had a whole temple of people around me, including people my age. I was usually trained alone, but that was because I had been training longer than most of them. And because I was shy. Prominent families like the Kaneshiros and the Schnees, who tend to be more involved in business and politics and who have a public image to uphold are generally stricter on their children."

Bastion nodded. "That's what I've observed too. Taka's dad, the Kaneshiro family head, is a pretty cool guy, but there's still pressure on Taka. I don't think his dad can do much about it. Taka's fine with it though. Proud even. But I can't say a thing for Weiss or anyone else."

Lilac nodded to herself. "I'm happy for your friend then. He seems nice, which is good. Constant pressure like that has a tendency to turn people harsh."

Bastion smiled. "Taka deals fine. Besides, he has his teammates to lean on if things get rough."

He studied the girl beside him for a moment, taking in her perfect posture and the way her hands were neatly folded in her lap. She had apparently taken in her etiquette lessons well. Her pale hair hung straight down her back, with a few locks falling in front of her shoulders. Her irises seemed strangely crystalline, as if she really did have amethysts in her eyes. Now free of the hospital room, she wore a pure white chiton-style dress with decorative golden clasps at the shoulders that were shaped like a cluster of lilac blossoms, the hem dotted with dirt from the garden, her feet clad in a simple pair of sandals. She was quite beautiful, he thought.

The sound of footsteps caught his attention and he turned to see Amaryl emerge from behind the gigantic hedge walls. Since leaving the infirmary, what few bandages she had sported had vanished from sight. She was now clad in simple forest green pants, black boots and black leather finger-less gloves, as well as a scarlet t-shirt bearing the white outline of a lily-like flower. The leather jacket that she wore over the top mimicked her hair; chocolate brown and edged in the same orange-tinted scarlet as the tips of her hair. Her eyebrows rose over leaf-green eyes as she registered Bastion's presence.

"Hi," he grinned.

Lilac's head whipped around. "Oh, hi Am."

"Hey," the girl greeted, eyeing Bastion cautiously. "We met you in the infirmary, didn't we? Bastion, right?"

"Right," he grinned. "And you're Amaryl."

"That's me," the girl nodded, walking over to them.

"I leave for twenty minutes and come back to find you alone with a guy," the green-eyed girl muttered teasingly to her friend as she took a seat on the grass.

Lilac and Bastion both blushed, the latter having overheard her comment.

"Do you have to?!" Lilac groaned, hiding her red face in her hands. "There is no substance to this teasing."

"And yet your blushes say otherwise," Amaryl muttered under her breath, too quietly for either of the others to catch.

Bastion glanced at the watch on his wrist. Noting the time, he got to his feet. "Well, it's time I got back to my teammates. It was nice talking to you, Lilac. Nice to see you again Amaryl."

"Likewise," the girls echoed.

"Come back tomorrow if you're still interested in learning that aura trick I talked about," Lilac smiled.

"Absolutely," Bastion grinned. "See you then."

Then he turned and left the way he had come.

* * *

It was late that night, and Blake Belladonna couldn't sleep.

The cat-Faunus sighed to herself and rolled over, hoping that somehow a change in position would help her drift off into slumber. To no avail; sleep still eluded her for some unfathomable reason. Sighing again, she rolled into a sitting position and got to her feet. Maybe a walk would help tire her out.

Careful not to wake her teammates she slid out the door, shutting it quietly behind her. She moved silently through the halls until she reached the front doors. Slipping outside, she took a breath of fresh air before heading along the path that ran beside the dorms.

The softest of thuds caught her ear, and immediately Blake slid into the shadows. She'd heard that sound many times before. It was the sound that accompanied a person landing on the ground; a very skilled, stealthy person considering how quiet it was. Silent as a breath, the cat-Faunus snuck forward and peered around the corner just in time to see a figure slip into the trees nearby.

After a split second of thought, Blake slipped off in pursuit.

She followed the figure at a distance, always keeping to the shadows and never making a sound. If there was one good thing about her time with the White Fang, it was that it had given her the skill and ability to move like a ghost when she needed to. She was thankful for it now. The mysterious figure was skilled as well, as good as her or better; he or she was so proficient that they almost lost her several times.

She followed the figure across the school grounds to the small building that housed the entrance of the underground staircase that led to the docks below. As they neared the building, Blake drew closer to her target in an attempt to discern its identity. It wore a dark cloak with the hood raised, so she couldn't tell much from behind. As it glanced around a sudden gust of wind fluttered the edges of the cloak, affording Blake a glimpse of a satchel hanging at the figure's side. Is hood slipped back a little, just enough for Blake's sharp Faunus eyes to pick out a face in the shadows. It belonged to…

Silas?

What was he doing sneaking out at night like this? Blake watched as the wolf-Faunus vanished into the building. Then, after a short pause, she slid inside herself. She headed down the stairwell, taking care not to let her footsteps make a single sound. When she final reached the ground, she just caught sight of Silas slipping along the dock.

Following silently, she was just in time to see the Faunus boy step onto a jetboard and take off across the water towards the city.

Blake cursed silently. There was no way she could follow him now. She had no choice but to return to her own dorm room, determined to find out where exactly Silas was going, one way or another.

* * *

**So, how'd you like it?**

**Review, people!**


	6. Chapter Five: Storm in a Bottle - Part 2

**So it's been a while, and I apologise. Between trying to finish a novel before my birthday (which is in just under two months), working on my Frozen fanfiction (which is actually being more neglected than this one) trying not to blow off my homework (an endeavour at which I'm failing) and studying for the exams I have in a few weeks' time I have a lot on my plate.**

**But I have had time to watch RWBY volume 2. Who else is loving it so far? I mean, from the most epic food fight in the history of man (or Faunus), to the best teens-vs-giant-robot battle ever, I am honestly in love with this season.**

**This story is probably going to go AU a some point soon. I've tried to avoid anything that might contradict season 2 canon, and I'll try to integrate what I can when I can, but I won't be able to avoid it for long.**

**Anyway, more Vol 2 fangirling at the end. For now, let's get to the chapter that I've made you wait so long for. Though only two people are following this story, so I only know for sure that two people are waiting on this (by the way, I'm going ahead and saying thanks again to TheDelta724. This guy has left three of my five reviews and is the only person so far to review more than once, so I'm going to go ahead and call him my most loyal reviewer).**

**Oh my gods guys, I finished writing this _before_ midnight! I still didn't proofread though. Just as an FYI, I made up Dell City.**

**Anyway, on to the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: _FAN_fiction. Enough said.**

* * *

**Chapter Five: Storm in a Bottle - Part 2: Storm Warning**

Dr Oobleck whizzed around at the front of the class, talking non-stop about the founding of the hunter academies. It was actually relatively interesting. But Blake's focus wasn't on the teacher. Instead, she peered out of the corner of her eye at the wolf-Faunus sitting a few seats away. Silas's eyes were on the professor, his alert focus giving no indication that he'd been out all night the night before. Or the night before that.

It had been two weeks since Blake had first discovered the grey-haired boy sneaking out. Almost every night since, she had snuck out and watched as he dropped out his bedroom window like a shadow and snuck down to the docks before heading over to the city. One night she'd stayed up to see when he came back. He hadn't returned until five o'clock the next morning.

Blake was still no closer now to discovering his secret than she had been then. The few glimpses she had managed to get of what was under the cloak revealed nothing but simple leather clothes and boots, with no particular defining features. He always had his leather satchel with him, but she had yet to receive any clue as to what was inside, aside from his jetboard.

Frustrated by her lack of progress, Blake had seriously considered sneaking into Team BSTN's room to snoop around for answers, but she had dismissed the thought almost immediately. If it had been Silas's room alone, she might have done it. But he shared his room with three others, and to sneak in would be to breach their privacy as well as his, something she wouldn't do to friends unless absolutely necessary.

She could have confronted him, but Silas didn't seem the type to give up his secrets easily. His teammates might have been easier nuts to crack, but Blake had no idea whether or not they knew anything of the wolf-Faunus's night-time wanderings. Whenever he snuck out, Silas was always alone and, as far as Blake could tell, his team was always asleep. All in all, she was running low on options.

Fortunately, today was Friday. Having failed to discern anything from the school side, Blake had made plans to spend the night in the city, hoping to catch Silas at whatever it was he was doing. She just prayed that he didn't choose tonight of all nights to stay behind.

* * *

Silas sat on the roof of one of Beacon's towers, the ends of his grey trench coat fluttering in the breeze and a frown set on his face. The final class of the day had let out an hour ago, and he'd been up here ever since. Taka and Nate were back in the dorm room and Bastion would be out on his customary afternoon walk by now (most likely on his way to see Lilac again). Normally, Silas would be taking an afternoon nap now to make up for the sleep he would miss tonight. Today, however, there was something on his mind.

Blake was onto him. Of that much he was absolutely certain. He'd sensed someone following him from the dorms to the docks for the last two weeks, and he'd managed to catch sight of Blake tailing him just over a week ago. He could hope that she didn't know that it was him sneaking out, but somehow he thought otherwise. He and Blake had developed a silent friendship in the last month or so. They hardly ever exchanged words, but they understood each other anyway. Blake was a kindred spirit, a more reserved soul. He didn't need words to understand her.

But for the last two weeks he'd been sensing suspicion from the Faunus girl. She was silent, speaking to him only when necessary and not communicating at all otherwise. The others didn't notice anything off; for all they knew, Blake was behaving perfectly normally towards him. But Silas could tell she had found him out.

The wolf-Faunus sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Did she know his secret?

The more he thought about it, the more confident he was that she didn't. She may have followed him to the docks, but she had no way that he knew of to follow him to the city unnoticed. She didn't know. Not yet. But even with the little he knew about Blake, he could tell that she was not the type to give up easily. He'd have to figure something out, and soon.

For a moment, he debated the idea of staying behind tonight. Then he discarded the notion. Angelo and Roden would be waiting for him. He'd just have to risk going until he found a way to dissuade Blake. Perhaps he'd just have to tell her. She probably wouldn't let up otherwise.

He sighed. In any case, that wasn't a problem for right now. He turned away from the edge and began to make his way back along the roof. He was going to be out all night again, and that nap would be needed.

* * *

Bastion held his hands out over the wilted, drooping plant before him and closed his eyes. His aura awoke in response to his will. He breathed deeply, slowly, as if he were meditating. Slowly, sleepily, he felt his aura begin to reach out, seeking the warmth of the other life blossoming beneath his palm. Carefully, he touched the plant's aura with his own and slowly, ever so slowly, began to allow energy from his own aura to flow into the plant's. Opening his eyes, he watched as the plant seemed to straighten, the leaves deepening in colour and the flowers seeming to grow more vibrant under his hands.

After several long minutes he began to feel tired, the drain on his energy taking its toll. He slowly withdrew from the plant, returning his aura to the confines of his own body. Beside him, Lilac smiled and applauded softly. "Well done. That's an improvement on last time. You're a fast learner."

Bastion grinned at the platinum-haired girl. "I have a great teacher."

Lilac blushed and smiled shyly.

Bastion's own smile widened, despite his attempts to hold it back. He couldn't help it. Seeing her smile made him want to smile. And besides, she looked so cute when she was blushing.

For the last two weeks, Bastion's afternoons had all been spent in the maze garden with Lilac, slowly learning the art of growing plants using aura. He had not actually grown anything as of yet though. The first week had been spent getting better in touch with his aura, and learning to seek out other auras in the vicinity. He had actually only begun to work with the plants in recent days.

Once he had, he had seen immediately why Lilac had refused to let him attempt anything with her garden. On his first attempt to feed a plant energy he had instead drained it entirely, almost killing the poor thing. Luckily, Lilac had been able to coax it back from the brink of death. Since then, he had made progress in small steps, finally managing to do it somewhat successfully for the first time only yesterday.

Bastion had learned two things in the last two weeks. One; plants needed a surprising amount of energy. Two; he thought that Lilac Delphia was very, very beautiful indeed. Her smile was like an angel's, sweet and pure as the air in springtime. Her pale, white-gold hair gleamed like silk in the sunlight, and her eyes… they were indescribable. So beautifully crystalline yet so soft and gentle. Bastion had caught himself drowning in those eyes more than once in recent days.

Maybe he should just ask her out.

He shook his head vigorously. No. No, he was not going to be asking anyone out. Least of all the Delphia Oracle, eldest daughter of the noble Delphia line.

"Bastion? Are you okay?"

He blinked, her voice bringing him out of his reverie. Her soft, kind voice that lilted ever so gently with the faintest strains of music… Gah! No!

He smiled nervously, a blush staining his cheeks. "Just fine. I just spaced out for a minute, sorry."

"Are you sure?" she asked. "You look a little red."

"I'm sure," he smiled, frantically willing his blush to fade, nice and easy. If he just stopped thinking about how beautiful she was, he'd be fine. But that was easier said than done. She looked so beautiful when she was worried… Oh for heaven's sake! He would not be asking anyone out today!

She looked concernedly at him, amethyst eyes soft and inviting.

…Maybe tomorrow.

"Really, I'm fine," he grinned. "Ready to try again."

She looked at him searchingly a moment longer, and then smiled. "I think that's enough for today."

His face dropped in disappointment and she laughed. "Don't look so sad. We'll try again tomorrow."

He sighed. "You're right. If I try again now I'll probably just wilt the flowers."

At the mention of wilted flowers, Lilac's face turned pensive. "Yeah," she murmured softly.

"Lilac?" He leaned forward, concerned. "You okay?"

She nodded. "I'm fine. It's just…I had a vision last night."

Bastion sat up straighter. He didn't know much about Lilac's visions, but from what he'd heard they were never wrong. "What was it about?" he asked.

"I had the same dream again," she began.

He nodded. She'd told him about her chessboard dream before, as well as the dream of Beacon.

"it was exactly the same as every other time I've had it," she continued. "Whatever part of our fate it indicates hasn't changed. But this time I had another dream straight afterwards. It wasn't long, only a few moments at best. Just a wilted rose falling into a pit of darkness. And then I woke up."

Bastion frowned thoughtfully. "A wilted rose, huh?"

She nodded, and his frown deepened. He could think of a few things that could mean, but none of them were good.

Seeing his expression, she smiled. "Don't worry about it. I've talked to Ozpin, and he's going to think on it further. Whatever it is, we can't do anything to change it. Let's just put it out of our minds for now, okay?"

She stood and held out a hand. He smiled and allowed her to pull him to his feet, his crutches in the other hand.

He went to tuck his crutches under his arms, and then stopped. He glanced down at the implements in his hands, and then at the bench on the other side of the clearing. He hadn't practised in a while…

Making a decision, he handed both crutches to Lilac. "Hold these for me."

She frowned in confusion. "Don't you need them?"

"I'm hoping not," he replied, eyes focused on the bench.

He took a deep breath, and then took a step forward. And then another. And then a third.

Lilac watched in amazement as he walked forward, steady step after steady step, hesitantly at first and then with more confidence. He was halfway there. Then three quarters of the way there. He hadn't even trembled once. Now he was only a few steps away.

And then his legs began to quiver.

Lilac rushed forward, crutches in one hand, the other outstretched and ready to catch him if he fell. To her relief, he managed to make the last shaky steps unaided. He sagged onto the bench, stretching his legs in front of him with a grimace.

She sighed in relief, taking a seat beside him and handing him his crutches. He accepted them with a smile, wincing a little when his leg twinged with pain.

She watched anxiously in silence as he rubbed his legs, trying to massage the pain away.

After a moment, she spoke. "How much does it hurt?"

He shrugged. "Not that much. I probably make it look worse than it is. It'll go away soon."

Lilac just watched, concern pulling down the corners of her mouth. One hand began to creep forward hesitantly. Then she pulled it back. For a long moment shyness battled with the urge to help a friend, until the latter won. She reached forward slowly and tentatively laid her palm on his thigh.

Closing her eyes, she let her aura flow through her, its soothing chill, like a breeze on a hot summer day, filling her body and emanating from her skin. She breathed deeply, as her father had taught her, calming and centring herself. She felt her aura reach out, seeking the auras that emanated from all around her, from the grass beneath her feet to the flowers in the garden to the insects in the trees. Each was a light, a warmth, a source of life. And the brightest light of all emanated from Bastion.

Slowly, gently, she began to ease her aura towards him, washing lightly over the edges of his own. He accepted her immediately, his aura welcoming hers. In tune as she was with the energy of her life and soul, Lilac's breath hitched in surprise as she felt the touch of his aura, so soft and gentle that it was almost a caress. No one else's aura had ever felt like this. No one else's had ever welcomed hers so eagerly.

Now that she was touching his aura, she could feel the feel the angry heat of throbbing pain that shuddered through his legs. Gently, she focused her aura through her palm, feeding energy and strength back into the afflicted limbs, encompassing the heat of the pain and soothing it, cooling it, until it faded into nothing.

She inhaled deeply once more and removed her hand from his thigh, drawing her aura back into herself. She exhaled and opened her eyes with a smile, to see Bastion gingerly touching his legs with a look of wonder. He raised his eyes to hers and gaped in awe. And beneath the awe there was an expression of indescribable gratitude.

"You healed me," he breathed, as if scarcely able to believe it.

She shrugged modestly. "I didn't actually do much. I just helped your legs recover faster and eased the pain."

He looked her in the eye seriously. "Lilac, when I try walking more than a few feet without my crutches, my legs go weak and spasm with pain. It hurts to walk, even with my crutches. When most people's legs get tired and give out on them, they get a dull ache. When that happens to me, I get aches and cramps that feel like someone is cutting up my legs and burning them from the inside. Sometimes, after I've pushed myself too hard or after a bad fall, they hurt so badly that I can't walk at all. Sometimes I can't even move. And nothing helps. Normal pain medication doesn't work. Anaesthetics only put me to sleep. The pain is still there when I wake up. Nothing, nothing at all, has ever been able to make it just go away."

He leaned forward and clasped her hands in his, needing to make her understand. "Lilac, what you just did is more than anyone else has ever been able to do for me in my life. Thank you."

The full import of his words and the true depth of his gratitude hit her like a freight train. Overwhelmed, she blushed shyly. "You're welcome."

Bastion smiled softly. This girl, this wonderful girl in front of him, had just given him one of the most precious gifts that he had ever received, and she had done it without even realising it.

Almost without realising what he was doing, he raised her hands, still clasped in his own, to his lips and kissed them.

Lilac's blush deepened and she ducked her head timidly, a smile playing on her lips. Bastion's own cheeks were dusted with pink as he returned her hands. She took one back, resting it on the bench beside her. The other she left in his hands.

* * *

Midnight shadows cloaked the alleys of the city of Vale, shrouding the narrow corners of the city in darkness. In the western sector of the city, the industrial district, a dark figure flitted from rooftop to rooftop like a ghost, unseen and unheard by any below.

Sentinel shot across the rooftops, heading deeper into the industrial district. He could see his destination in the distance, marked by a slender structure that rose above the surrounding buildings. He still had plenty of time to get there, but there was no harm in showing up early.

But first…

He turned sharply and dashed off to his right, making the five-metre jump between one rooftop and the next like it was nothing, turning a front-flip as he did so. Landing with the softest of thuds, he took off northwards, leaping from building to building and running across narrow ledges like a cat. Entering a sector of neglected, run-down warehouses, he spotted his objective; an abandoned building that rose barely a single storey above its surroundings. Sentinel scaled the side of the building with a single leap, fingers catching the corner of the roof and hoisting himself up in a second.

He walked slowly out onto the roof, past a large brick chimney that was taller than he was. He stopped in the middle and tilted his head up to stare at the shattered moon. His black, feature-less mask covered all but his eyes, concealing all emotion and thought.

Without moving he called out softly, his voice disguised by the distortion device in his mask. "I know you're there."

There was a whispered curse, and then Blake Belladonna stepped out from behind the chimney.

"When you know I was following you?"

Sentinel smiled under the mask. "Not long after you started. We were still back in the residential district."

She raised an eyebrow, though he couldn't see it with his back still turned. "You're good."

"I have to be. I can't survive as a vigilante if I let people tail me without my knowing. But you're not bad yourself. If I hadn't been," expecting you_,_ he thought, but out loud he continued, "on alert, I never would have detected your presence." After a pause, he said, "May I ask why you're following me?"

She shifted her weight onto one leg and crossed her arms. "Because I want to know what exactly you're up to, Sentinel. Or should I say Silas?"

Sentinel sighed. So she _had_ figured it out after all.

He turned to face her and removed his mask, tugging down his hood as well. "When did you figure it out?"

"Just tonight," she admitted. "I knew you were Sentinel when I saw you sneak in near the eastern dock with the mask and sash on."

Silas fingered the forest green material tied around his waist; the signature accessory of his alter ego, along with the mask in his hand.

"But," Blake continued, "I knew you were sneaking out of school two weeks ago."

"I know. I noticed you following me." He ran a hand through his hair ruefully. "Honestly, I've been waiting for you to show up down here for the last week or so. Guess tonight was the night."

She frowned. "If you knew I was following you from the beginning, why didn't you confront me then?"

Silas shrugged. "Because I was almost positive that you didn't know that I was Sentinel then. And it wasn't like you could follow me very far anyway."

She nodded, acknowledging his point. After a moment, she spoke again. "You looked like you were going somewhere before. Or was that just for my benefit?"

He chuckled. "No, I actually do have to go somewhere, but I have time." So saying, he made his way to the edge of the roof and sat down, patting the spot beside him in invitation. A second later, she joined him, sitting cross-legged at his side.

After a minute or two of companionable silence, she asked, "Why did you become Sentinel?"

He tilted his head, pondering the question. "Well, I've moonlighted as a vigilante for several years now. As a Faunus, I knew what discrimination was like and I always used to think how wrong it was, and I guess that led to me developing a strong sense of justice in general. I didn't really make a name for myself until I came here, when I started calling myself Sentinel and wearing this." He tugged at the hanging ends of his sash to complete his statement.

Blake looked at him quizzically. "Do your parents know?"

At her question, Silas's face hardened. "My mother… She's dead. I don't know who my father is."

Blake's mouth turned down in surprise and sadness. "Oh." Silently, she cursed herself for asking that question.

Sensing her discomfort, Silas laid a hand on her shoulder. "You didn't know. Now you do."

She shot him a grateful smile. He smiled slightly in return before removing his hand and leaning back. He tilted his head up to stare pensively at the moon, thinking back to the years when his mother was still alive. It seemed so long ago now. He hadn't thought about it much in years. He hadn't tried to bury the memories; he didn't want to lose one of the few things that he had left of his mother, but it still hurt to think about so he didn't do it often. He spoke about it even less often. But suddenly he had the urge to tell Blake everything. After a moment of internal struggle, he gave in.

"I used to live on the streets with my mother," he began abruptly. "We lived in Dell City, a smaller city to the north of here. Actually," he paused to think before continuing, "I remember us living here in Vale City for a few years when I was younger. We left for Dell when I was six. My mother used to tell me that we came over from Mistral when I was even younger, but I don't have any memory of that."

Blake turned to face him fully. Though he was hiding it well, she could tell that it was hard for him to talk about his mother. So she made sure to give him her undivided attention.

"Mom told me that my father used to be around when I was younger, but he had to stay behind when we came to Vale. I never found out why. I've tried to find him once or twice in more recent years, with help from Taka's connections, but Mom never…" He took a shuddering breath. "She never even told me his name."

Blake spoke softly. This was clearly a sensitive subject, and she was grateful and honoured that he was even sharing it with her at all. "What about your family name?"

Silas shook his head. "Fenrir is… was my mother's maiden name. She never told me what my birth surname was." He sighed. "Anyway, we've been on our own for as long as I can remember. We've lived on the streets, barely getting by. And then, five years ago, when I was twelve…" He clenched his teeth and buried his face in his hands.

Blake understood. Hesitantly, she sidled closer and laid a comforting hand on his back, rubbing gently between his shoulder blades. He gave a shuddering sigh and then, after a long moment, sat up again. As Blake retracted her hand, he reached out and trapped it with his own, keeping it pinned between them, cradled under his palm. He didn't look at her, but his gentle touch spoke volumes of his gratitude.

Finally, he cleared his throat and continued. "Anyway, I turned to vigilante-ism after that. I met Bastion, Nate and Taka two years later, and Nate's family adopted me officially a few months later. I didn't stop moonlighting though. Nate's parents knew, and they understood. And then three years later we got accepted into Beacon, and here we are."

Blake nodded slowly, giving him a small smile. He smiled back and they sat like that for a while, undisturbed in the moonlight.

Their peace was interrupted by a voice in Silas's ear.

"Silas, you there?"

Silas stiffened and frowned in annoyance. Sometimes Angelo had terrible timing.

Blake turned her head at his movement. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he replied. "Just a friend checking in."

He placed a finger to the communications device in his right ear. "Here."

On the other end of the line, Angelo spoke. "You in position?"

"No, but I'm not far away."

"Better hurry up. We have ten minutes until go time."

Silas got to his feet. "I'll be there, don't worry."

He removed his fingers from the com-link and turned to Blake. Before he could say a word, she was on her feet. "I'm coming with you."

He grinned, placing his fingers by his ear again. "I'm bringing a friend."

After a pause, Angelo responded with curiosity. "Who?"

"Remember the girl I mentioned, the one who I thought might be onto me?"

"Oh." The other voice chuckled. "She found you out, huh?"

"Yeah." He grinned at Blake, who smirked back.

"Alright," Angelo replied. "I'll tell Roden."

"Roger. We'll be there right away."

"Roger that." There was a click, and then the line went silent again. Turning on his heel, Silas slid his mask back on, drew his hood and gestured for Blake to follow before taking off across the rooftops again.

She was by his side in an instant. "So where are we going?"

He spared a second to point. His voice was distorted by his mask once more when he spoke. "See the crane over there? I've heard on the street that something strange has been happening there. I'll explain more when we get there."

She nodded and they ran the rest of the way in silence. As they neared their destination, Blake saw that the majority of the buildings surrounding the crane were even more derelict than those behind her. One looked half demolished, which explained the wrecking ball hanging from the crane.

She followed as Silas headed for a building directly beside the crane, scaling the wall via drainpipe in no time flat. Silas immediately crossed to the other side of the roof and lay down near the edge. Silently, he drew a small handgun from inside his jacket, holding it ready at his side.

Blake followed his lead, laying down beside him and readying Gambol Shroud. As she did, he glanced at the slim watch on his left wrist.

"We should have roughly three minutes or so," he informed her. He raised his fingers to his ear again. "Angelo, we're in position."

A moment later Angelo's voice crackled to life in his ear. "Copy that. We're ready on this end."

"So why are we here?" Blake asked.

Silas removed his fingers from the earpiece. "A couple of friends of mine received intel that something fishy was going on down here. A bunch of people have been seen meeting someone here. Sometimes it's just one person making some kind of trade-off. Sometimes it's a lot of people, and some don't come back. We heard word that there was going to be a one-on-one at midnight tonight, so we decided to check it out."

Blake opened her mouth to ask another question, but before she could someone stepped out of the shadows of a building to their left.

He was tall and well built, wearing a neatly pressed long black coat and a black scarf folded like a cravat, along with dress pants and loafers. He was pale-skinned, looking to be in his early twenties, his dark brown hair slicked back above poison-green eyes. All in all he was quite handsome, but there was something about the curve of his smile that raised Blake's hackles.

The man glanced at his silver wristwatch briefly before tucking both hands into his coat pockets. Four minutes passed in dead silence, and Blake hardly dared to breathe.

Then another man came hurrying down the street. This one was a lot less slick and put-together, his creased shirt untucked over rumpled pants, a stained cotton hoodie hanging unzipped from his shoulders, his shoes bearing large scuff marks that were easily visible from Blake and Silas's position. His blond hair was sticking up in every direction above uneasy hazel irises.

"You're late," the first man remarked coolly as the second stumbled to a stop in front of him. "We agreed to meet here at midnight."

"I'm barely two minutes late," the second man scowled.

"Four, actually," the former corrected.

"Whatever," the latter scoffed uncaringly.

The man in black shrugged. "I do prefer to be punctual, though I suppose it's of little consequence this time. Did you think over our proposition?"

The blond man nodded hesitantly. "I did. And I decided that I don't want to risk it."

The other man sighed. "Well, that's unfortunate. We could have used someone with as much aura as you have."

The blond man scoffed. "What good is aura when you don't know how to use it?"

"Ah, but that's exactly the point," the brown-haired man crooned, laying a hand on the other's shoulder. "_We do_ know how to use it, and we can teach you. You could be a valuable asset to my…employer."

The blond man brushed the hand away. "No thanks. My answer is no, and that's final."

The man in black sighed. "Regrettable. I would have preferred that you come of your own free will. But…"

Before the blond man could react, the man in black placed his palm against the other's neck and met his eyes. When he spoke, his voice was a dark command. "You _will_ join us."

When the blond responded, his voice was robotic and monotone. "I will join you."

The brown-haired man smiled and clapped his shoulder. "I knew you'd see it our way. Now come. My employer would like to meet you." He turned on his heel and beckoned

The other man nodded mutely. As he turned to follow the first, Silas caught a glimpse of his eyes. They were black as midnight, sclera and all.

Silas's eyes widened in shock. He was on his feet in an instant, leaping off the roof and landing behind the two men, gun aimed at the former's back.

"Stop right there," he commanded, his garbled voice steely.

The man in black turned slowly, a smirk on his face. "Well, well. If it isn't the famous Sentinel. You're younger than I expected."

Behind the mask, Silas started in surprise. How could this man tell how old he was?

The man in question smirked. "To someone who has been trained well enough, many things are visible in an individual's aura. Yours marks you as a teenager. Seventeen or eighteen perhaps." He tilted his head. "I expect that you're a student at Beacon, aren't you?" When Silas didn't reply, he chuckled. "No matter. In any case, you'll likely be seeing me again soon enough."

He raised a hand and a strange black mist gushed from it.

As soon as he moved, two figures erupted from a nearby building, charging forward with swords in their hands. Angelo and Roden. Silas fired rapidly at the figure that was quickly being swallowed by black. From the roof behind him, he heard Blake doing the same.

The mist billowed out in waves, shrouding the black-clothed man and his blond accomplice from sight. There was a soft, chilling chuckle and the black-clothed man's voice echoed ominously as he spoke one last time.

"Until next time, Sentinel."

The cloud of blackness curled inwards and then rolled apart, dissipating to reveal nothing at all. Both men were gone.

* * *

**Dun dun dun!**

**So, how was it?**

**Anyway, so Volume 2.  
****I am just going to start off by saying that I love Neptune. I know there's been a lot of hate thrown his way in recent weeks, especially by the White Rose fans, but I love this guy. I don't like him paired with Weiss (not just because I'm a White Roser myself, but because I honestly cannot see any potential chemistry). Fortunately for me, I would say that Episode 4 has knocked down that possibility. What is still standing is the possibility of him and Yang ending up together. I actually like that ship, and I can see potential chemistry there; he's flirted with Weiss and the Malachites to their faces, but he has yet to flirt with Yang to her face (that we've seen), even though he is clearly attracted to her. He acts all suave with the other girls, but he admires her when she's not looking. Also, I think their personalities match quite well. Plus, he reminds me of Angelo (and you have no idea why yet, but you'll see soon enough).**

**The Ep4 battle. Oh my freaking gods, it was amazing. Neptune's weapon (which we now know is _not,_ in fact, the gun-gun) and Sun's semblance are freaking awesome (though we don't know exactly what Sun's semblance is). Ruyi-Bang and Jingu-Bang, Sun's weapons, are still my favourites though; you can't beat gun-chucks (except with...actually, just wait and see). And then it gets better. The ship names for the combos, Yang being a mother-freaking badass (as if I didn't love her enough already. She has now cemented her position as my favourite for all time) and just general awesomeness.**

**I'm loving all the new characters, really. I love what I've seen of Emerald and Mercury, I've already mentioned Neptune, seeing more of Cinder has been great, it's all just awesome. I especially love Neo's design. I mean, brown, pink _and_ white hair?! Come on, that's cool. I can't wait to meet Scarlet and Sage, the last two members of Sun's team. And Team CFVY, Velvet Scarlatina's team. I can't wait for them to show up.**

**Speaking of characters that I can't wait to see, there is one in particular that I want to see more than anything. _Winter Schnee._ Weiss has a sister! I freaked out (in a good way) when I heard that line. I am a total sucker for familial relationships, particularly those between sisters. Honestly, I'm pretty freaking in love with them. Yang became my favourite in the very first episode because she was Ruby's big sister, and because she obviously cared about her little sister a lot (I have a little sister of my own. In my book, stuff like that means instant fave). Frozen is my favourite Disney movie of all time because _SISTERS._ So yeah, I'm pretty freaking excited to meet Winter and see what kind of relationship she has with Weiss. I actually wrote a little fic on Weiss and Winter if anyone cares to check it out.**

**Why do we have to wait a whole week?! Gods dammit!**

**Anyway, reviews are love, see you next time (hopefully).**

**Until the next chapter.**

**-Forever a Cookie**


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